Political Quotes

“That is a good question. I do not think the amendment fully answers that question. I think one might well go into court and assert if we had taken measures to incur a deficit, that in effect would end up violating this provision and ought to be restrained by court. Whether a court would pick up on that I do not know. I take it the Senator's argument is we could do it in June and we would have until September 30, somehow, to work this thing out. The trouble with that is the recessions do not turn around in a quarter or two quarters. Once you get on a downward trend it takes a little bit of time to come back up. You are fighting to hold it back. The point I make to my distinguished colleague is the more momentum that builds up in a downward direction the harder it is to check it and bring the economy back. It is always better to respond early because usually that means you can address the situation with a lesser amount than will be required later when the economy is driven deeper into the hole. So I understand the point the Senator is making. I do not know the answer to it. But even if one were to answer it in the direction in which he presupposes, I do not think it helps very much because we are going to come up against that fiscal year before long and then we are going to be faced with an absolute crisis: What to do prior to the end of the fiscal year, in terms of the amendment. This amendment does not require a budget balance over the business cycle.”