Orrin Hatch: “it is my fervent hope that during the debate over the proposed exemption of the Social Security funds from the…”

“it is my fervent hope that during the debate over the proposed exemption of the Social Security funds from the requirements of Senate Joint Resolution 1, I have convinced my colleagues to support the balanced budget amendment. As Justice Brandeis so eloquently wrote in the 1927 case of Whitney versus California, "It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears." I truly believe that many of my well-meaning colleagues' desires to exempt the Social Security Program is based on unfounded fears. Look, if we take the largest item in the Federal budget and put it outside of balanced budget purview, we are left with no mechanism at all for its protection. Social Security will be out there all alone, with no protections whatsoever. Whereas, if we keep a unified budget and keep everything in it, Social Security will be protected because everybody in the Congress wants to protect it, and it can compete better than any other Federal program for the available funds. Frankly, I know it would get them. Every one of us would vote for Social Security, for its protection.…”