Lateefah Simon: “Every one of those bright young men on that team will not be protected by this Reid amendment, because of the deficit…”

“Every one of those bright young men on that team will not be protected by this Reid amendment, because of the deficit situation. We cannot adopt a constitutional amendment that anticipates we are going to have a surplus into the indefinite future. Clearly, we ought to do what we can to protect Social Security. Finally--and I saw Senator Byrd on the floor a moment ago, and I know he wants to take the floor--I point out that we simply have to stop borrowing from our children and our grandchildren. When Senator Paul Tsongas testified last week before my subcommittee, he said, ``This is a moral issue. What right do we have to borrow from our children in order to satisfy our present desires?'' In terms of the media that he quoted, it is interesting there is a gradual movement--slow, I admit--but a gradual movement of economists and media over to the side that we have to do something here. Senator Tsongas testified last week that if someone is against this, they are either part of the media or in academia. Well, that is not quite true, but it has kind of been historically true. But there is gradual movement in what I think is the right direction. Finally, my friend from Nevada says that his resolution has a mechanism for enforcement. I will read this: The Congress may by appropriate legislation delegate to an officer of Congress the power to order uniform cuts. We can do that now. We do not need a constitutional amendment to do that.”