Byron Dorgan: “we did this and it was important to do, but all of us know that because of health care costs and other things, this line…”

“we did this and it was important to do, but all of us know that because of health care costs and other things, this line starts going back up. So this is not enough. The question is: What do we do now to solve this problem in the future? The Senator from Utah brings to the floor, with many of his colleagues, a proposal to change the U.S. Constitution. I respect him for that. I voted for a change in the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced budget last year. I likely will vote for one again, although there are some changes in this proposal that I do not like. I want to talk today about a couple of changes we want to make to this proposal and why. As I do that, I want to say that somebody on the other side of the aisle was quoted, I guess yesterday, as saying that those who say the American people have a right to know how we propose to balance the budget are joking. He said that the Senators who make this argument simply do not want to balance the budget. Wrong. I want to balance the budget. I have voted for a constitutional amendment in the past, and I likely will again. But the question, in my judgment, is not whether we balance the budget; the question is: How? I think the Senator from Utah and the other original cosponsors of this particular constitutional amendment will agree with me that if it passes 90 seconds from this moment, not one single penny of the Federal deficit will be reduced--not one.”