Kent Conrad: “I think if people understood that we were talking about putting into the Constitution of the United States a policy that…”

“I think if people understood that we were talking about putting into the Constitution of the United States a policy that would take retirement trust fund moneys and use them to balance the operating budget that they would say that is not a good principle, not a good policy to put in the Constitution. If we were in the private sector and anybody stood up and suggested, ``I have a plan to balance the budget of this company. I know we have been running deficits. The answer I have come up with is to take the retirement funds and throw them into the pot,'' that person would be on their way to a Federal facility and it would not be the Congress of the United States. They would be on their way to jail because that is fraud. I feel very strongly about this question. I think as the American people have a chance to learn more about this question they will conclude that is not the way we want to conduct our business.”