The Senators from Utah and Arizona complained my amendment delegates powers to an unelected official, the Director of CBO, to make economic determinations.

I think it is irresponsible for the Members on the other side of the aisle to say that they are going to vote against my amendment. The only hope we have of having a constitutional amendment is that we have some of our friends on the other…

with some urgency and concern, I spoke yesterday to this Chamber about the balanced budget amendment. That urgency and concern have only increased. I believe a specter haunts this body, Madam President. Gaunt lined and hollow eyed as death…

The point of that provision is to provide that a nonpartisan, unelected official could make that decision. That seems totally reasonable. But I find it amazing that the Senator from Utah complained of ceding powers to unelected officials…

I want to bring to the attention of this body during this lull in the proceedings, a column written by James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense, Director of Intelligence and Director of Budget. It is interesting that a number of…

The Reid substitute does what is done in virtually every State in the Union. Virtually every State in the Union has a balanced budget. We should have one, but we should do it in a reasonable manner. What the Reid substitute does is say…

I want to bring to the attention of this body during this lull in the proceedings, a column written by James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense, Director of Intelligence and Director of Budget. It is interesting that a number of…

I think it would be in the best interests of this country, and the Senate as an institution, that we adopt the Reid substitute. Why do I say that? Because it requires a balanced budget amendment by the year 2001, but it does it through…

If I could respond to my friend, as I have indicated, we feel there is sufficient experience in the State and even in the Federal legislation to give us significant direction. I refer, as the esteemed former chief justice of the Alabama…

The problem, I say to my friend is--using the Brooklyn Bridge as an argument--if in fact we did not want to live up to what Senator Hatch said was our constitutional obligation and duty--and I take for granted we would all try to do that…

Far from to try to argue legalities with my friend from Alabama who is the legal mind of the Senate I would say this, however, that if the Senator has any questions, any problem with the language of my amendment, then he should tremble at…

I do not think they would be required to. I say they have not done it in the past. I assume we could get them to start doing that even though it would be extremely difficult to do that.

I hope every senior citizen and every disabled American was listening to the presentation made by the Senator from Utah and the Senator from Arizona. The Reid balanced budget amendment balances the budget, but not on the backs of senior…

I respond by saying that, as I have indicated, virtually every State has an operating budget and a capital budget. Senator Ford, a former Governor of Kentucky, came and spoke at some length about how he conducted business when he was the…

I want to compliment the Senator from West Virginia, the President pro tempore, for his wide-ranging accounting of the history of the power of the purse. The encyclopedic memory of the Senator from West Virginia is truly a marvel. Senators…

I suggest to my friend from New Mexico that the fact of the matter is that for 40-odd years, we have been carrying this in our accounting of the Federal budget. States have had decades and decades of experience. There was a statement that…

The budget experts have told us that the word ``net'' is the appropriate term of art to use, that it comes out to the same monetary number that is in the Simon amendment. They just felt the word ``net'' is a better term of art.

That question has been raised and we were told by the experts that the word ``net'' is a better term of art; however, it accomplishes the same thing as the underlying Simon amendment.

As the Senator knows, we work on a yearly budget, and what is contemplated here is that sometime during one of those 2 years of the Congress, if there are 2 successive months where the growth is less than 1 percent, then that is where this…

I respond to my friend from Alabama that we have significant experience with capital budgets. We have set forth in the Federal budget capital expenditures. We have used that for some 40-odd years and, of course, all State governments--not…

I have supported the concept of the balanced budget amendment since coming to Congress, and even before coming to Congress. This has been something that I have worked very hard on, especially the last several weeks, to arrive at something…

I was talking about the Simon amendment and the fact that almost every State in the Union would go broke if they had to live by what this amendment is asking the Federal Government to live by because every State has off-budget capital…

I see in the back of the Chamber someone else has certainly pointed to the editorial by Michael Ruby in the U.S. News and World Report. I am going to take a lot of time tomorrow or the next day, whenever I again get the floor, to talk…

I also state that I think this has been constructive for the Senate because while this amendment only applies to this supplemental appropriations bill, I would hope that in the months to come when other bills come before this body…

we have worked long and hard since this matter was before the Senate earlier this day. We have met with Senators Feinstein and Boxer, Secretary Cisneros, and officials from the SBA and FEMA. We worked something out that I think…