Mike Levin: “the Constitution is a document that should only be amended with great caution. This is one of those moments when we…”

“the Constitution is a document that should only be amended with great caution. This is one of those moments when we would be wise to submit the strong feelings on this issue to careful deliberation. Unfortunately, proponents have chosen to do otherwise. The language we are debating was introduced less than 4 months ago. It is not clear what text we would even be voting on. The proposed language changes almost daily, like the weather. The amendment was not voted on by the committee of jurisdiction and we do not have the benefit of a committee report laying out the pros and cons of the amendment. For purposes of comparison, the Congressional Research Service looked at constitutional amendments originating in the Senate over the last 40 years. Since 1963, 691 constitutional amendments have originated in the Senate. Including cloture votes, only 19 of these measures were voted on in the Senate. According to CRS, only four times in those 40 years has a constitutional amendment that originated in the Senate been debated in the Senate without first being reported by the Judiciary Committee. And of those four times, only the amendment providing Congress the power to limit campaign expenditures, versions of which were considered by the full Senate in the 100th, 105th, and 107th Congresses, came to the floor without earlier amendments on the same subject having been reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee. And that amendment was not adopted.”