Dale Bumpers: “I do want to say I am not so concerned about the requirement of a constitutional 60 percent, three-fifths vote in the…”

“I do want to say I am not so concerned about the requirement of a constitutional 60 percent, three-fifths vote in the Senate to balance the budget. That will almost certainly happen. I had my staff do a study of all the appropriations bills for fiscal year 1995. Last year, the average vote for all of the 13 appropriations bills was 84.5 votes in the Senate. So I expect it is not going to be too difficult to get 60 votes to override the amendment. But my concern is not that. My concern is the potential damage that can be done by 41 obstreperous ideologues who care more about their ideology than they do the future of the country. Let us assume we are in a recession headed for a depression, and every economist in the country tells us the only way in the world you can head off massive unemployment and massive social and cultural disaster is for the Government to create job-producing projects. And 41 Senators, far fewer than a majority, can say, 'We don't care what the economists said. We are for a balanced budget. And we are not going to stand for allowing 60 Senators to unbalance this budget.' So the country goes right into the tank. That is my real concern.”