Jerry Moran: “I agree it would offend mine, too. We would hasten to add all of those States are very ably served by their Senators.…”

“I agree it would offend mine, too. We would hasten to add all of those States are very ably served by their Senators. Here we are not talking about personalities, we are talking about the Constitution. We are trying to go back to the original tenets of that Constitution. They tried something that was not majority rule in the Articles of Confederation. You needed 9 out of the 13 States to pass any revenue- raising provision. They found it was unworkable. The country was not functioning. So they had to go back and correct it and install majority rule. Now, when you think about it, as you so ably explain, 10 percent of America's population could prevent any kind of tax increase. No matter how needed it is to keep this Government functioning, whether we are in a war, whether we are in a depression, whatever the situation, 10 percent of America's population can block any attempt to put our country on a sound fiscal footing. I think that is the most compelling argument, and then in addition to the experience we have already had with the violation of the three- fifths rule. But the other point that you so well made, Mr. Skaggs, is that the Constitution is not a rough draft. The Constitution has served this country very well for two centuries.”