Pete Domenici: “What will there be in the constitutional amendment, if the Reid amendment became law, that says we cannot borrow that…”

“What will there be in the constitutional amendment, if the Reid amendment became law, that says we cannot borrow that money? Nothing, Senator Nickles. It can be borrowed. So we have kind of a charade going. You write a constitutional amendment that says when you finally get to balance you cannot borrow any more money, right? But that is only on that budget. On this other budget that is floating over here, there is no limitation on borrowing. I ask, if you are trying to protect the American economy and future generations from borrowed money, is there any difference between the borrowed money that might go into the first budget as compared with borrowed money that might go into the Social Security fund? I think not. I think both have the same negative effect on the future of our children and the growth and prosperity of the Nation. So, if we want to stop at $5 trillion in deficits, when we finally get to balance under the Hatch constitutional amendment, we are saying we should not borrow any more money. But if the Reid amendment becomes law, we are not saying that. We are saying, for Social Security purposes you can borrow as much as you want. If that isn't a sorry state of affairs, after we have adopted a constitutional amendment if we were to adopt the Reid constitutional amendment, then I have not seen one; a situation which is more dissimilar after the fact than this. For after the fact there is no limitation on borrowing money.…”