Tennessee delegation backs failed balanced-budget amendment

The U.S. House rejected a balanced-budget constitutional amendment on Friday as doubts escalated about whether a special congressional panel would be able to piece together a deficit-reduction plan by next week's deadline. After casting 859 votes in the United States House of Representatives, I can honestly say that the failure of this bill hurt the most," said U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a Republican freshman from Jasper. "I've never walked off the House floor with such a heavy heart."