Orrin Hatch

Simply put, Senator Reid's amendment would exempt Social Security from section 1 of the balanced budget amendment, which requires that total outlays for any fiscal year not exceed total receipts for that fiscal year unless a three-fifths…

Under Senate Joint Resolution 1, Congress will, by necessity, need to be more careful about its decisions through the year in order to comply with the constitutional directive of the other sections. For instance, section 6 simply…

I do not want to prolong the debate tonight, but I have to say no matter what you do, those funds are going to be invested in bonds, U.S. securities. That is what is statutorily required. The fact is, if you set Social Security outside of…

I give warning that I am prepared to close down the Senate if the Senate is prepared to be closed down. Let me just say a few words about my friend's amendment. My friend, Senator Reid, and others seek to remove Social Security from the…

Let me just respond. I guess I will do it again. I will stand behind these two stacks of unbalanced budgets for the last 28 years and I will just repeat what the Senator said, the distinguished Senator from Vermont. All you have to do is…

I believe that this gamesmanship is exactly what must be avoided. The way to avoid it is to reject such exemptions. The best way to protect retirees of future generations is to adopt a clean and strong balanced budget amendment, free of…

The term ``by law,'' used in the Senate Joint Resolution 1, sections 1 and 2 is used there in order to make clear that Congress cannot imbalance the budget or raise the debt limit by an internal rule. Why? The President must sign a bill…

Ever since the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th amendments have used the language ``appropriate legislation,'' which, under the Chadha decision of the Supreme Court, is interpreted as a law as signed by the President…

Let me finish. If there is a minor or negligible drop below balance at the end of the year, and we find out that has occurred after the fiscal year has ended, we can avoid constitutional problems for minor deviations. However, we still…

In addition to the fact that we have no strong incentives under the current system to stay within either the estimates or the budget that is under the current system, Congress often compounds the problems inherent in using estimates by…

The same thing that is meant in every constitutional amendment since the Civil War.

I am strongly suspicious that the Senate may prevail over the balanced budget amendment.

Of course I will. And I will also acknowledge it is still $107 billion in debt. If I can just finish, it is amazing to me--I give credit for that. We had what some think is the largest tax increase in history and the deficit has come down…

I am pleased to join with many others in Utah who have expressed their appreciation to Bill Hodson, director of the Salt Lake City Veterans Medical Center. Bill recently retired after many years of faithful service to our Nation's veterans…

I said the amendment does not mandate a balanced budget. I think this amendment will lead us to a balanced budget.

I think it promises a balanced budget, I don't think it mandates one. It gives us the flexibility to do whatever we want to do, as long as we comply its requirements.

Let me finish. I cannot cite a single example in the Senate, but that is irrelevant. The fact is the reason we are writing the constitutional amendment is to provide a means whereby you have to have a constitutional majority, without…

What we are saying is if it's an actual conflict and something that deserves the United States of America risking its soldiers and its young men and women, then the President ought to declare a war or come up here and say, ``I want a…

That might be an argument in this body. If it is, then those who want to increase military spending or waive this budget, all they have to do is get a constitutional majority to do so. We are just saying it should not be easy to waive the…

But the problem is, it is not up to just the two of us. It has been up to everybody in Congress for 28 years of unbalanced budgets. I know that people do not like these two stacks because they are embarrassing. It is embarrassing to me to…

No, no, it gives us the flexibility to do whatever we want to do, but we have to stand up and vote to do it by supermajority votes. If you want to increase the deficits, you have to stand up and vote by a supermajority to do it. If you…

But let me say this. I happen to believe that this little booklet that contains the Constitution of the United States, without the balanced budget amendment, will hopefully have a balanced budget amendment in it. Because, if we do--and I…

I was saying, if it was up to the Senator from West Virginia and the Senator from Utah, I believe we would have the will to do what is right.

Let me just say this, Moses also struck the rock at Meribah and gave water and was forbidden from entering the promised land after 40 years of traveling in the wilderness.

That's right, Horeb. The fact of the matter is that he was following, in a sense, the same pattern, but without God's will. And I am tired of following the same pattern which I cannot believe is God's will. I am sorry that we have 28 years…