Orrin Hatch: “I honor my colleague. He is a very fine Senator and does a very good job, but give me a break: All it takes is for us to…”

“I honor my colleague. He is a very fine Senator and does a very good job, but give me a break: All it takes is for us to do the job and the President's signature. We have had 28 years of that philosophy. Here it is. Twenty-eight years on balanced budgets and really, in the last 60 years, there have been really very few balanced budgets. This would be three times this size if we put it up for the last 60 years. This ought to give anybody enough pause to say, ``Hey, it's time to get this over with. It's time to let people move on from here.'' Our efforts to pass the balanced budget amendment predate even my own election to the Senate some 20 years ago. But these new freshmen Senators are absolutely critical and an indispensable factor, it seems to me, in this debate. They came to the Senate last month with new insights and unbounded enthusiasm and energy and determined that some integrity and sanity be restored to the Federal budget process. Their commitment to this process, to our children and our grandchildren is an inspiration to those of us who have dedicated most of our political life to this message. I hope their message is heard around the country. All freshmen Senators are original cosponsors and they can work in a bipartisan manner with their Democratic counterparts to ensure passage of the amendment this month.”