On the recordFebruary 24, 1997
There is a massive problem here. For some reason --and I think the distinguished manager has put his finger on it --the constitutional amendment refers to actions by the Congress that constitute laws--until we get down to section 6. Section 6 is an alternative to section 1. Section 1 is a rather binding section, which says, ``Total outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts * * *''--``shall'' not, not ``may'' not, not ``ought'' not, but ``shall'' not exceed--``* * * for that fiscal year, unless three-fifths of the whole number of each House of Congress shall provide by law. * * *'' That is pretty binding. If that section stood by itself, it would be pretty hard to get around it. But, lo and behold, the authors of the amendment have come along with the Houdini section --section 6--which as much as says you don't have to do it by law, and you can do it by relying on estimates of outlays and receipts.
Source
govinfo.gov
