Orrin Hatch: “I appreciate the cogent comments of my colleague, Senator Simon, on this matter. Look. We all have been in this…”

“I appreciate the cogent comments of my colleague, Senator Simon, on this matter. Look. We all have been in this legislative arena for a long time. When people have a tough issue, they try to get a facade amendment to pass so that people can vote for something so they do not have to vote for the real amendment. Mr. President, that is what is happening here. The fact is that the real amendment is the Simon-Hatch amendment. Everyone hopes it will be enforced. Everyone knows it will work. Everyone knows it will put the fiscal discipline and the fiscal restraints on Congress that are appropriate under these circumstances of almost 60 years of not balancing the budget and running it into a debt of $4.5 trillion. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from Illinois summed up our criticisms pretty well. We will take time either tomorrow or Monday and shred this amendment alive because it does not make sense. It certainly will not be needed to balance the budget. It certainly is not a balanced budget amendment. It is a mere cover-your-backside amendment that will allow people to vote for an amendment, and then vote against the real balanced budget amendment. I do not want anyone to misconstrue it. The amendment we have to pass is the Simon-Hatch amendment if we want a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and we want to get it through both Houses of Congress. If we do not do that, everyone knows this is just a game and there is no question about it.”