Lateefah Simon: “I want to slightly differ with my friend from Idaho in that I think, to the President's great credit, in 1993, he did…”

“I want to slightly differ with my friend from Idaho in that I think, to the President's great credit, in 1993, he did come forward with a program to move that deficit down. The problem is that was a brand new President in a honeymoon period, with both Houses of Congress in his corner. It was a first step. But there is no indication that we are willing to make further steps, and that is why we need the constitutional amendment. And my colleague from Idaho and I agree on that. Senator Smith mentioned that a large majority of Americans are for this, and he also said we are going to have to make some hard choices. What is also true is, according to the Wirthlin poll, that while 79 percent of the people in the United States are for this, 53 percent believe they are going to have to sacrifice if we get it. The American people understand that. But they also, in some vague way--they may not know the General Accounting Office statistics, but the General Accounting Office says if we are willing to sacrifice a little, by the year 2020, our children and grandchildren can experience a 36 percent increase in their standard of living.”