Lateefah Simon: “When the amendment says that you have to balance estimated outlays and estimated receipts rather than real outlays and…”

“When the amendment says that you have to balance estimated outlays and estimated receipts rather than real outlays and real receipts, that is fairly significant. When the amendment also says you can have a capital budget and for State governments and local governments, that frequently is necessary. At the Federal level, we have no project that requires that. The biggest project in the history of humanity has been the Interstate Highway System. Because of a Senator by the name of Albert Gore, Sr., we did not, as President Eisenhower requested, issue bonds. But Albert Gore, Sr., said, ``Let's have a tax increase and do it on a pay-as-you-go basis.'' That is what we ought to do. That is what GAO has suggested. We ought to divide within the budget investment and operating expenses, but they make very clear it would be a disaster for the country to start down the business of saying, well, capital projects--that means highways, airports, all kinds of things that would be there. This amendment by my friend from Nevada has no muscle, has no teeth. We are going to gum the deficit down with this one. It has no teeth at all. Our amendment says if you want to increase the debt, you have to have a three-fifths majority. That is tough. Senator Byrd says it is too tough. I think it is realistic.”