Political Quotes

“I think the Senator is raising some very significant issues concerning this constitutional amendment to balance the budget. My response has always been if it were a gimmick, Congress would have passed it long ago. As the Senator knows, over the years we have had a number of statutory approaches. Now there have been suggestions under the Daschle amendment and the so-called right to know that somehow we should pass implementing legislation to tell the American public how we plan to balance the budget over the next 7 years. But that is also statutory language. On the other hand, they are saying the constitutional amendment we would not necessarily have to enforce. How do we know the Congress in the year 2002 will actually enforce a constitutional amendment? Would the Senator not agree that this is the only way, given your experience here in this institution, to get a balanced budget for the American people and for future generations, is through a constitutional amendment to balance the budget?”