Political Quotes

“I rise today in opposition, of course, to the amendment of my friend, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Barton]. I have had the occasion to express my concern on the House floor on past occasions on the balanced budget amendment. I have always, Mr. Chairman, and I say with pride, voted to defend the Constitution of the United States as it presently exists, as opposed to the suggestions that we solve our fiscal problems in this country, and we solve our lack of intestinal fortitude in this Congress, by changing permanently the one instrument that 5 billion people in this world envy the most, the Constitution of the United States. At this point in the history of the United States, more than 10,000 amendments have been offered to the Constitution of the United States in more than 208 years. Of those 10,000, only 27 have been enacted. Mr. Chairman, it is clear to me that as a result of the change of the structure of the House and the makeup of the House today on both the majority side and the minority side, that there will likely be a two-thirds majority of this House for some form of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Mr. Chairman, I fear the destruction of the Constitution, and I think that, as we learned from Prohibition in the 1920's, we may realize that what we think is a good solution and a fast solution to inject intestinal fortitude into this Congress and into this Government, that we may instead wreck havoc on the Constitution.”