John Kerry: “this has been an unusually enlightening--if a bit protracted--debate. We have had this discussion before on a number of…”

“this has been an unusually enlightening--if a bit protracted--debate. We have had this discussion before on a number of occasions and I assume we will have it again during this Congress. It is my fervent hope that emerging from all this discussion will be a general understanding on the part of the American people that there is a discernable difference between a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and a balanced budget itself. Mr. President, this amendment is as fundamentally flawed this year as it was last year. As it is currently drafted, I cannot support it. I have come to the floor previously to discuss the detrimental effects of this proposed amendment to the Constitution. I have discussed at length the particularly odious issue of the amendment's supermajority requirement. As I have illustrated in the past, Mr. President, the most compelling arguments against this amendment as drafted come from the real experts, the Framers of the Constitution. I would contend that were they here on the floor of the Senate today, they would to a person vote against this amendment because it violates the Constitution's most basic tenet--majority rule. I have researched this issue, Mr. President; allow me to review it briefly. In Federalist 22, Alexander Hamilton called a requirement for a quorum of more than a majority poison for a deliberative body.”