Orrin Hatch: “Frankly, to stand here and say the reason we are putting the due date when we should reach a balanced budget to the year…”

“Frankly, to stand here and say the reason we are putting the due date when we should reach a balanced budget to the year 2001 is so we can avoid responsibility, if I interpreted the majority leader's comments correctly, would be an insult to every Member of this body because what it is saying is that none of us really is going to take a constitutional amendment seriously for the next 7 years, assuming that this amendment passes, assuming that it is submitted to the States, and let us assume that it is ratified within the average period of time that constitutional amendments are ratified. That is 20 months. I do not think Members of this body would fail to take that amendment, once it passes the Senate, and once it passes the House, from that minute on, I do not think there is a person in this body who would not be interested in living up to his oath of office, which requires fealty to the Constitution of the United States, who would not take it seriously and who would not realize that the game is up around here, and that we have only 7 years on a glidepath to reach a balanced budget.”