Orrin Hatch: “opponents of House Joint Resolution 1, the balanced budget amendment, are expected to support an amendment…”

“opponents of House Joint Resolution 1, the balanced budget amendment, are expected to support an amendment unsuccessfully offered in the Judiciary Committee by Senator Dianne Feinstein to specifically exclude Social Security from the calculations used to determine if the Federal Government's budget is in balance. A slightly modified version of this amendment has been introduced on the floor by Senator Harry Reid. The consequence of its passage would be cataclysmic for millions of middle-class Americans who are counting on Social Security to supplement their retirement income in the future. At best, the Reid amendment is a jobs program for constitutional lawyers who would keep the matter tied up in the courts for years, if not decades. The Reid amendment is just the sort of protection today's senior and tomorrow's retirees don't need. By requiring the Government to ignore Social Security receipts and expenditures in balancing its books, the Reid amendment would threaten the future of a program on which tens of millions of Americans rely.”