This N.J. congressman backed a larger deficit and then voted for a balanced budget amendment

Rep. Tom MacArthur is flanked by House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON -- After backing bills that added $2.7 trillion to the federal debt over a decade, Rep. Tom MacArthur on Thursday voted to amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget.

"I'm going to vote for a balanced budget any chance I get," said MacArthur, R-3rd Dist. "I still believe strongly that you have to require the federal government to live within its means. Thats the only way we're going to get our house in order."

Even so, he defended his votes for the $1.3 trillion spending bill that boosted defense spending by around $700 billion, and the Republican tax legislation that he said would spark much-needed economic growth.

The Congressional Budget Office reported this week that the two measures would increase deficits by $2.7 trillion over 10 years.

MacArthur's vote went for naught as the amendment failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to advance even as the Republican majority supported it, 233-184. The other four New Jersey House Republicans also voted aye.

"This projected fiscal outlook is a principal reason why I opposed the tax reform measure," said Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist. "Many states, including New Jersey, are required to balance their budgets. Yet the federal government continues to spend more than it takes in.  We owe it to our children to fix the broken congressional budget process and rein in Washington's spending."

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., was one of only seven House Democrats to support the measure.

"Every family in America finds a way to sit down and manage its budget; we must hold our government to that same standard of fiscal responsibility,"Gottheimer said.

Other than Gottheimer, the entire Democratic delegation voted no.

In a state where President Donald Trump is so unpopular that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted all five GOP-held congressional districts, the vote to balance the budget after passing a deficit-funded tax bill gave the minority party another line of attack.

Democrats immediately charged that the balanced budget amendment was nothing more than a back-door effort to force unpopular cuts to popular social programs such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, which Trump vowed to leave untouched during the campaign.

"The Republican tax scam blew a $2 trillion hole in the deficit to lavish billions on their corporate donors," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist. "Now we're being told the only way to protect the economy is by dismembering the social safety net. You almost have to admire the chutzpah."

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, the only New Jersey lawmaker to join the floor debate, said the tax cut was designed to increase the deficit so Republicans could then cut food stamps and other social programs.

"They didn't give a doggone about whether the budget was balanced or not," said Watson Coleman, D-12th Dist. "This is not about a fiscal responsibility measure. This is about nefarious and terrible politics."

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., acknowledged that Republicans wanted to shrink the safety net.

"We've fought again and again and again for cuts to help balance our budget and mandatory reforms to save our entitlement programs," he said in a statement.

MacArthur said the tax bill would spur more economic growth than projected.

"Our only shot at overcoming our current debt and deficit spending is growth," he said. "We're never going to cut ourselves into prosperity."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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