John Joseph Moakley: “Today, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues say they want to amend the Constitution to require a supermajority vote for…”

“Today, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues say they want to amend the Constitution to require a supermajority vote for tax increases. Mr. Speaker, just 2 years ago the Republicans changed the House rules to require a three-fifths vote for tax increases every time the bill came up. But every time that bill came up with that amendment in it, they waived their requirement. That is right, Mr. Speaker, once again my Republican colleagues are proposing amending the Constitution with the requirement that they ignored, not once, not twice, but five times just in the last Congress. They waived the three-fifths rule on the Contract with America Tax Relief Act. They waived the three-fifths rule on the Medicare Preservation Act of 1994. They waived the three-fifths rule on the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1996. They waived the three-fifths rule on Health Insurance Reform. And they waived the three-fifths rule on the Welfare Reform Conference Report. In short, Mr. Speaker, they waived the rule every time that it applied. But today they want to attach it to the United States Constitution. Mr. Speaker, amending the Constitution, as you know it, as I know it, is a very serious business and should never be used as a political tool.”