Jim Inhofe: “I rise today to express regret over what happened yesterday. Yesterday was a very significant day in America. We had an…”

“I rise today to express regret over what happened yesterday. Yesterday was a very significant day in America. We had an opportunity yesterday to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Of course, it did not work out. We fell short by a couple votes. It reminds me a little bit of last year when we fell short by one vote--one vote--one vote away from forcing fiscal discipline into two bodies that have expressed and shown and demonstrated no fiscal discipline over the past 40 years. This is not anything that is new. I can remember, Mr. President, back in the middle 1970's when there was an ad by, I think, the National Taxpayers Union. They had a nationwide ad. They were trying to express to the people of America how serious the debt was, and tried to give us an understanding as to what these dollars really mean. Because once you start getting past $1 million or $1 billion or $1 trillion, nobody really has any concept of what it is. Our debt right now, when you say $5 trillion, does not mean an awful lot. So back in the middle 1970's I can remember this very effective ad that they had. What they did at that time--the Empire State Building was a tall building--they took $100 bills, and they stacked them up until they finally reached the height of the Empire State Building. They said, ``That is $400 billion. That is our national debt.''”