Trent Lott: “last week, I inserted in the Record a list of quotations concerning the balanced budget amendment, from several of our…”

“last week, I inserted in the Record a list of quotations concerning the balanced budget amendment, from several of our colleagues who voted against the balanced budget amendment on March 2 of this year. Those quotes demonstrated their support for the balanced budget amendment in earlier years, especially in 1994, when there was little chance that it would actually pass. Earlier this afternoon, our distinguished colleague from Kentucky, Senator Ford, suggested an error in the words attributed to him. As I understood him, he has not claimed that he never said the words I quoted him as saying. But rather, he said them in support of a substitute amendment to the balanced budget amendment, not in support of the original legislative language. That substitute--a Reid-Ford-Feinstein amendment--had the effect of exempting Social Security from the constitutional strictures of the balanced budget amendment. The Senator is correct in pointing that out. The words I quoted were spoken on March 1, 1994, in support of that substitute amendment, which, because of its Social Security exclusion, did differ from the balanced budget amendment the Senator voted against on March 2 of this year. If I had been aware of that, I would have duly noted it in the material inserted in the Record, but not read. So I apologize to the Senator for that misimpression. But in the interest of fairness, I think we should lay out the whole story.…”