Angie Craig: “Let me express my thanks for the leadership that he and the Senator from Illinois have taken on this issue, along with…”

“Let me express my thanks for the leadership that he and the Senator from Illinois have taken on this issue, along with myself and others, to bring to the floor and to build the consensus that is clearly here in a strong majority to pass a balanced budget amendment. Now, within a few moments, we will have a vote on the Daschle motion. We have been debating this amendment and the Daschle motion in part for a week and a half, without a vote. I think the American people expect Members to move in an expeditious fashion through this issue, to a time when we can vote up or down on it, and send it to them to make the decision. Article V of the Constitution is very clear. We have the right to propose amendments, and when we do, they must go straight to the States. In all fairness, the Daschle amendment has to be called not the right to know, but the right to stall, and stall and stall, and deny the American people the opportunity to express their will through their State legislators as to whether they want a balanced budget amendment, as to whether they want a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to be the 28th amendment to our Federal Constitution.”