Cord Byrd: “But the proponents of this constitutional amendment don't bother to enlighten their listeners and readers to the fact…”

“But the proponents of this constitutional amendment don't bother to enlighten their listeners and readers to the fact that the States have capital budgets which they don't balance every year. So now the distinguished Senator from New Jersey seeks to meet that argument and put, indeed, into the Constitution language that will allow the Federal Government to operate on two budgets--an operating budget and a capital budget--so that the Federal Government will be, indeed, operating like the State governments, it will have a Constitution insofar as capital budgeting is concerned, like the State governments. It will continue to have an operating budget, and it will also have a capital budget. But it cannot have a capital budget, under the language of the proposed constitutional amendment. Section 1 provides against that. Section 1 says: 'Total outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts for that fiscal year.' So, right there, in section 1, as plain as the nose on your face, we would be precluded from passing a law once this constitutional amendment is adopted here and ratified by the States--the Federal Government would be precluded from having a capital budget.”