This op-ed by Sandy Adams appeared in the Daytona Beach News Journal:

With an almost $15 trillion national debt, it is painfully clear that Washington has a serious spending addiction. America’s economic situation is a result of decades of overspending and Washington’s inability to stop. Not only is this addiction racking up a massive credit-card bill that you, the taxpayer, have to pay back, it is placing obstacles in the way of a struggling economy. With nearly 14 million Americans out of work, Congress and the White House should focus on working together to get our economy back on track and address the root of our nation’s economic crisis: overspending.

As a result of Washington’s addiction, deficit spending has skyrocketed; $459 billion in fiscal year 2008, $1.4 trillion in fiscal year 2009, $1.3 trillion in fiscal year 2010, and $1.3 trillion in fiscal year 2011. In just the past couple of years alone, since President Barack Obama took office, the national debt has increased by $4 trillion. To paint a clearer picture for you, it took the United States 216 years, from 1776 until 1992, to accumulate the same amount of debt that the nation has borrowed in just over 2.5 years. If we choose to follow the fiscal path outlined by the president’s 2012 budget, in just 10 years, 95 percent of all federal taxes will be used to pay off our debt and fund programs like Social Security and Medicare. This will leave only 5 percent of our annual tax revenue for funding national defense, veterans, and other essential functions of the government.

America is drowning in debt. Yet, instead of addressing the bad policies that led our nation into this fiscal mess, President Obama has called for more spending and raising taxes by an estimated $1.5 trillion. At a time when America is facing a debt crisis, an unemployment crisis and a spending crisis, increasing taxes and continuing to spend money we don’t have will only make things worse. Additionally, this massive new spending plan threatens to keep our economy on its current downward trajectory. While the president says these massive new taxes would only impact “millionaires and billionaires,” 75 percent of America’s job-creating small businesses file as individuals.

Fortunately, the antidote to Washington’s spending addiction is simple: passing a legally binding amendment to the Constitution. A balanced budget amendment would constitutionally limit the ability of Congress to spend more than it takes in. While spending cuts and caps are only temporary and left up to Washington politicians to enforce, a constitutional amendment is permanent. Currently there are 49 states, including Florida, that abide by some form of a balanced budget requirement, and it is time for Congress to do the same.

Fifteen years ago, Congress was on the verge of passing a balanced budget amendment. The amendment passed the House with bipartisan support, but lost by one vote in the Senate. Since then, the debt has grown by $9.8 trillion and the need for a balanced budget amendment has only become more urgent.

Knowing this, my colleagues in the House and I ensured that as a part of the August debt limit agreement, the House and Senate would vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. This vote will be taking place before Dec. 31. To pass the House and Senate, this constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds majority in both bodies (290 representatives, 67 senators). If passed, the amendment would then be sent to all 50 states for ratification.

Ronald Reagan once said, “We’ve tried the carrot, and it failed. With the stick of a balanced budget amendment, we can stop government’s squandering, overtaxing ways, and save our economy.” Over the next couple of months, Congress will have the opportunity to do what is right for our country. Let’s save our economy by passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.