Political Quotes

“let me briefly sum up, if I can, this amendment. I think the handwriting is on the wall. It is one of those moments, the wave is moving here, and I deeply regret it. I have the feeling my colleagues have just not read section 5 as carefully as we should. I emphasize again and draw their attention to this not based on the argument that I asked them to not support the constitutional amendment to balance the budget, but merely that we improve this section to reflect, I think, what ought to be the priorities of a nation; that is, to be able to respond to an imminent threat to our national security and be allowed to do that in a way that would permit us to waive the restrictions of this amendment. The priority of responding, I think, is a higher one than the issue of the constitutional amendment to balance the budget. I draw the attention of my colleagues to some pivotal words in this section, "a declaration of war," or the United States must be "engaged in military conflict," particularly that latter one, Mr. President. It does not talk about imminent danger. We must actually be engaged. It is ironic in many ways that we can have a declaration of war which can be reached by a simple majority here. A simple majority of Senators present and voting can declare war. You do not require that all Members be here to declare war. No vote we ever cast could ever be more profound than to commit our Nation to war.…”