Political Quotes

“we have been focused in the last 6 months on the O.J. Simpson trial, and one of the first mistakes made in that case by one of the defense lawyers was when the defense lawyer allowed O.J. Simpson to give a long statement to law enforcement. It led to that attorney being fired by O.J. Simpson because O.J. Simpson, could have given testimony incriminating himself. Those of us who have practiced criminal law recognize that people have a constitutional right to not incriminate themselves. The fifth amendment provides for this right. I am sure we have all seen movies where people stand and say, ``I refuse to testify for fear that I will incriminate myself.'' The reason I mention that today, Mr. President, is the majority of people pushing the balanced budget amendment are unwilling to tell the American public what they have a right to know: How the budget will be balanced. They, in effect, are taking the fifth amendment because they do not want to incriminate themselves. They do not want to tell Social Security recipients, and others, that they are going to use the Social Security trust funds to balance the budget. I believe that this right-to-know amendment that will be offered by the minority leader tomorrow is an important amendment. It is an important amendment because I believe that we have an obligation to tell the truth to whomever asks us for the details.…”