Political Quotes

“I am sending this amendment to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Kerrey of Nebraska. Two weeks ago the Senate debated the proposal to amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget. I regret that the proposal was rejected narrowly. I understand that my colleagues were somewhat reluctant to incorporate budget policy and procedure into the Constitution. But today we are proposing a change in the budget procedure that does not amend the Constitution, and does not amend any Federal statute. It merely amends House and Senate Rules of Procedure. For this reason I hope that some of my colleagues who could not support the balanced budget amendment, will be able to support this proposal that we are offering this afternoon. The amendment would establish an expedited procedure for House and Senate consideration of rescission requests made by the President. Under current law, Congress is not required to act on any requests by the President to rescind or cancel funds already appropriated by the Congress. If Congress chooses to ignore the rescission request, they simply wither on the vine. In light of the looming and repeated deficits, however, I think the Presidential requests to rescind spending deserve to be acted upon, and Congress should not be able to simply ignore the requests. So under the expedited rescission proposal, Congress would be required to vote on the President's rescission requests within 20 days of their proposal to Congress.”