David Price: “I rise in opposition to the Barton amendment and in favor of the alternative, the Wise-Price-Pomeroy-Furse amendment.…”

“I rise in opposition to the Barton amendment and in favor of the alternative, the Wise-Price-Pomeroy-Furse amendment. The Wise-Price-Pomeroy-Furse amendment is the only amendment before us that establishes a Federal capital investment budget that is modeled after the capital budgets used by the States. It is the only amendment that protects Social Security and ends the practice of using Social Security surpluses to mask the true size of the deficit. Our amendment is the only amendment before us that protects majority rule while restricting the conditions under which the amendment could be bypassed. In that respect the Wise-Price-Pomeroy-Furse amendment is tighter and stricter than either the Stenholm or the Barton amendment. Mr. Chairman, in the course of this debate we have heard a great deal about supermajorities as a way of possibly creating disincentives for unbalancing the budget or increasing the debt. That supermajority requirement, that requirement of a three-fifths vote sounds pretty good. But the reality is quite different, as anyone can attest who has observed filibusters in the other body or who has observed debt ceiling votes in this body. It is an invitation to posturing and to a minority of Members holding the Chamber hostage to get its way. It is not a good idea. The supermajority problem that we have in the Stenholm amendment is compounded in the Barton amendment.”