Cord Byrd: “What we get are speciocities, irrelevancies, platitudes, well-wishes, and expressions of good intent. We do not know…”

“What we get are speciocities, irrelevancies, platitudes, well-wishes, and expressions of good intent. We do not know what the ``intent'' of the Senators who sit at these desks will be 2 years form now, 3 years from now. Perhaps they will be the same Senators. How can we say what their intent will be? We need to read the words of the amendment. They speak for themselves when they say ``total outlays shall not exceed total receipts in any fiscal year.'' That does not leave any wiggling room. The proponents say, yes, it does, because you can waive that by a three-fifths majority. It is a dangerous amendment. Section 5--I would not want to risk the lives of my grandsons on that kind of language, requiring 51 Senators in this Chamber to pass such a resolution, denying the Vice President of the United States his vote to break a tie, if there should be a tie.”