Byron Dorgan: “I will discuss what this attempt is here on the floor of the Senate. Is it an attempt to balance the budget, as is being…”

“I will discuss what this attempt is here on the floor of the Senate. Is it an attempt to balance the budget, as is being alleged, or it is an attempt to simply change the Constitution? The reason I ask the question is there are plenty of people here in the Senate who seem to want to support every single proposed constitutional amendment that is offered. We have had thousands of proposed changes to this Constitution. We have changed it very, very rarely, and we have made it difficult to change. One reason for doing that, as the Senator from Arkansas suggests, is it is hard to see people walking in this Chamber who resemble in philosophy and in spirit Thomas Jefferson, or James Madison, or George Mason, or George Washington. So we have made it difficult to change this document. This country has taken on too much debt. That is clear. It is not the case, as some stand up daily in the Senate and say, 'Well, the American people must pay their bills every day. They don't have any debt.' That is not the case. This country has $21 trillion in debt.”