Political Quotes

Dale Bumpers: “First of all, the constitutional problems with this bill are insurmountable. The people listening or watching would be…”

On the recordMarch 27, 1996
First of all, the constitutional problems with this bill are insurmountable. The people listening or watching would be interested in knowing, nowhere in the Constitution is the word veto mentioned. Here is what the Framers said in article I of the Constitution: Every bill which shall have passed through the House of Representatives and the Senate shall before it become a law be presented to the President of the United States. If he approve he shall sign it but if not he shall return it with his Objections to the House in which it shall have originated. I have been here 21 years. I am not a constitutional scholar but a country lawyer with a great reverence for the Constitution. I have voted against more constitutional tinkering, I will bet, than any Senator here in the past 21 years. Unhappily, we have Members of this body who think that what Madison and Adams and Franklin did 207 years ago was simply a rough draft for us to finish.
Said by
Dale Bumpers
Arkansas
Source
govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Addressing constitutional concerns regarding a bill during Senate debate.

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