Cord Byrd: “This is not going to be real--section 6. It is not real. It talks about estimates. Now we are going to switch from…”

“This is not going to be real--section 6. It is not real. It talks about estimates. Now we are going to switch from section 1, which says total outlays shall not exceed total receipts in any fiscal year. In the first place, how do we know whether the outlays have exceeded the receipts before the end of the fiscal year, or even two or three weeks subsequent to the end of the fiscal year? That is number one. Number two, then, we switch to estimates. Why do you proponents of the amendment purport to do two things--one, in the first section, balance outlays with receipts--no ifs, ands, or buts--to the exact dollar. But in section 6, they say, well, just forget about section 1 and balance the estimates. We have all seen how the estimates run. The estimating is going to be done by the very same people, under the amendment, as have been doing the estimating prior to the adoption of the amendment. The proponents are promising, absolutely pledging to the people of the United States, that this amendment will balance the budget. That is what they are promising. The Senator just said that. We cannot possibly get the estimates right. The Senator just said that. We can't possibly get the estimates right. Well, then, may I ask the Senator, are we not misleading the American people with these elaborate claims that we are going to balance the budget when what we are really going to balance is the estimates? Then the Senator admits that we can't be accurate in these estimates.”