Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) will deliver the weekly Republican address to help launch an effort to approve a balanced-budget amendment this fall.
House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) office announced that Goodlatte, a long-time supporter of the provision, would deliver the address.
"This will be a kickoff of sorts of a GOP offensive to, in advance of a BBA vote later this fall, make the case for it and tie the BBA back to jobs by talking about how important it is to set spending restraints in stone and help provide long-term certainty to America’s job creators," said Kevin Smith, Boehner's communications director.
The House GOP has said it would pursue the constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget — which it had fallen short of authorizing as a part of various debt-ceiling packages this summer — as a stand-alone measure this fall. Approving such an amendment is one of the ways to avoid automatically triggered cuts established in that compromise. (The other way would be for the supercommittee established in that bill to produce a plan that passes both houses of Congress.)
"No one in Congress has fought harder than Bob Goodlatte to make the balanced-budget amendment a reality, and I look forward to hearing what he has to say in this national address," Boehner said of Goodlatte's speech.
"A balanced-budget amendment will force Congress to make tough decisions by prohibiting Congress from spending more than it takes in,” Goodlatte said. “Forty-nine out of fifty state governments are required to balance their budgets and Congress should be forced to do the same. It will be an honor to address the American people on the need for a balanced-budget amendment."
The address will officially be available Saturday morning at 6 a.m
