Thomas Daschle: “I regret we have to take a vote at this time. I believe, frankly, as I said the other day, it is unnecessary. I am…”

“I regret we have to take a vote at this time. I believe, frankly, as I said the other day, it is unnecessary. I am concerned that it sends the wrong message to the American people about how seriously we consider the process of amending the U.S. Constitution. The implicit suggestion behind the motion is that shutting off debate on this very serious and complicated issue is necessary because Democratic Senators are filibustering the balanced budget amendment and obstructing the debate, when the truth is just the opposite. There is no filibuster here. There have been very few quorum calls over the last several days. The Senate floor has been busy, virtually every minute. Senators have been on the floor. They have been here offering amendments, debating the issues. They have been busy doing exactly what we are all elected to do, to consider carefully some of the most far-reaching issues that they and the American people face. Democratic Senators have not employed dilatory tactics. To the contrary, we have offered legitimate and very serious amendments that ought to be given serious consideration by all Senators--several amendments that, in my view, as I said just a moment ago, would have made this particular balanced budget amendment much stronger.”