Political Quotes

“Madam President, in about 30 minutes, we will have a rare chance on the floor of the Senate--it does not happen often. We will have consideration of two efforts to amend the Constitution of the United States. We all take this seriously. Each one of us, before we could exercise our responsibility as Senators, swore to uphold and defend that Constitution. Now we are being asked to amend it. How often have we amended the Constitution? In the past 220 years since we passed the Bill of Rights, we have amended it 17 times: to abolish slavery, to give women the right to vote, significant historic decisions. What comes before us today are two amendments which, frankly, do not stand the test of whether they meet constitutional standards. I am going to vote against both. I thank my colleague, Senator Udall of Colorado, for offering a version. Senator McConnell, Senator Hatch have offered their own. I do not believe either one of them is right for America. Here is what it comes down to. If we pass either of these constitutional amendments, we will be forced to cut government spending at exactly the wrong moment in time when it comes to our economy. When our economy is in trouble, revenues are down, we step in with stabilizers to try to make sure that we keep families afloat during difficult times and restore our economy to growth. Those stabilizers are threatened and endangered by these balanced budget amendments.…”