Cord Byrd: “on Tuesday last, February 28, 1995, the Senate was supposed to vote on the final disposition of the constitutional…”

“on Tuesday last, February 28, 1995, the Senate was supposed to vote on the final disposition of the constitutional amendment to balance the budget. It may be of interest to my colleagues to know that exactly 200 hundred years ago, on February 28, 1795, the Senate was meeting at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital. Our information is incomplete about the details of that day's session because, as was its practice at that time, the Senate met behind closed doors and kept only the briefest of minutes as required by the Constitution. What we do know, based on news accounts derived from members who were willing to talk to local journalists, is that Senators were most concerned that day about paying the government's debts and raising further income to meet growing expenses. The Senate debated and approved, by a vote of 21-1, 'An act making further provision for the support of Public Credit, and for the Redemption of the Public Debt.'”