Joe Biden: “Senator Daschle has put before us a common sense addition to the balanced budget amendment, that requires us to tell the…”

“Senator Daschle has put before us a common sense addition to the balanced budget amendment, that requires us to tell the people of the States--the people who will decide on ratification of the balanced budget amendment--what the effects of their decision will be. Should we and the people who will be asked to ratify this permanent change to our Constitution not be given the facts we need to understand its effects? It seems to me that to oppose full disclosure is to say that we want this decision--that is a fundamental change in our Nation's charter--to be made in the dark, in ignorance. Two years ago, we voted for a budget plan that laid out a course of action that identified the specific changes that would be needed to cut half a billion dollars from our deficits over 5 years. That plan was clear and detailed; it was of course subject to both honest disagreement, and, unfortunately, some partisan distortion. But it has cut the deficit for 3 years running, for the first time since the Truman administration. We told the American people what we were going to do, and we did it. We cut over $500 billion from our deficits over 5 years. And a strong economy that followed passage of that plan has brought our deficits even lower.”