I respect my colleague but, again, no matter if he votes wrong on this issue from my perspective, he has contributed immensely to this Nation by providing the leadership that got us to the reconciliation last August. That grandchild that…

Let me just add, in terms of amending the Constitution and on financial things, Thomas Jefferson, of course, favored an absolute prohibition against Federal borrowing, and Alexander Hamilton later-- Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton…

What happens before that, according to history--and maybe we can be the first country since ancient Florence and all the others not to do this--what happens is then you start monetizing the debt. You start printing the money. I think, as…

But down to the bottom. It says future generations--way down at the bottom there, next-to-the-last line. You go over with reconciliation and with health care reform and with all the optimistic assumptions, 10 years solid growth, no dip…

That is a great tribute to Senator Patrick Moynihan in addition to being a great tribute to Bill Clinton. They made some tough decisions. I remember the Senator coming into the Democratic caucus and saying, ``We did this because we had…

I commend my colleague from Alaska--and particularly since he is a former banker-- for his comments about interest. We are really at a fork in the road where we are going to determine whether we are going to have higher interest rates in…

Strobe Talbott has written some things that I wish he had not written. Strobe Talbott has written some things that he wishes he had not written. Part of being a journalist is you write a great deal--sometimes with wisdom; sometimes lacking…

It is interesting that even the lead witness in opposition to the balanced budget amendment last year, Prof. Laurence Tribe of Harvard--I do not want to mislead anyone. He is still opposed to the balanced budget amendment, but he said…

Then people say, ``Well, with the balanced budget amendment, we can't have the kind of investment that we ought to have.'' It is very interesting that in 1966 when we had a deficit of $3.7 billion, we had long-term investments of 2.6…

I would like to commend Mr. Valenti for one of his best speeches yet on this subject. He has shown true leadership in his industry with his call for shared responsibility between families, the Government, and the entertainment industry in…

I thank the many people who have played a role in bringing this to this point. That includes my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, 54 cosponsors of this legislation, staff people who have worked very hard on this, and I am grateful to…

One of the things I think that will come out of this is this is going to be a civil debate. We are going to look at some very, very basic questions in this country. I think we have the chance to really make a change for the positive for…