Orrin Hatch

But in both cases, had they not walked, you could have had a constitutional majority. I think these votes are going to be heightened votes, and nobody is going to miss them.

It would have, had they not walked. My point is the Senator is saying they might walk under this constitutional majority. They walked then under a regular majority vote.

But the point is we have a constitutional majority in here for one reason, and it has been accepted by both Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate; and that is so that we would have tax-limiting effect. I think it is going…

We would not have had that highest tax increase in history had this amendment been in effect.

The game that is being played is business as usual. We are running this country right into bankruptcy.

Keep in mind, I do not think that we can use votes in 1941. There was not a constitutional amendment in effect then. Keep in mind, one of the other things our Founding Fathers did--they did it very carefully--was to put article V into the…

You would wait until the next day when you had 51. You can come up with hypotheticals in every situation, but that does not change reality. This body has increased the debt ceiling.

The fact that you cannot command a supermajority is part of what is going to happen here. What we are saying is, look. I think a better illustration, if the Senator wants me to substitute one for him, would be the vote last year on the tax…

This amendment is not going to allow business as usual. It is going to require a constitutional majority to increase taxes, which is a tax-limiting approach. I suspect that that will be more difficult to get than a three-fifths majority to…

The reason we brought this balanced budget amendment before us is because we have a runaway train of Federal spending. We have a runaway train that is not treating our taxpayers fairly. The answers always seem to be more spending and more…

Let me finish and I will be glad to. The other point--with the delegation given to me from our colleague--is that, from your standpoint, a simple majority was not allowed to win, and that this would make it even more difficult because you…

That is my interpretation. It would have meant that we would have had to have gotten that 51 votes to increase taxes, and we probably would have been faced with having to reduce the deficit more.

let us just all understand here, the Social Security trust fund is now filled with a bunch of IOU papers because the Federal Government has been borrowing from that trust fund and has been using that money to pay off Federal obligations…

I first pay tribute to my colleague from Montana and tell him how much we appreciate his willingness to support this balanced budget amendment. I know it has been a very difficult decision for all of us because there are arguments on both…

I think this has been a reasonable debate. It has been civil. The debate has been so for both sides of this issue, and both sides have been well-represented. Naturally I feel our side is correct. I would not be here if I did not, working…

I cannot emphasize enough, that the surest way to harm Social Security, the surest way to deplete the trust fund, the surest way to open a loophole which will swallow the balanced budget amendment is to pass this exemption. If we open up…

opponents of House Joint Resolution 1, the balanced budget amendment, are expected to support an amendment unsuccessfully offered in the Judiciary Committee by Senator Dianne Feinstein to specifically exclude Social Security from the…

But under the Daschle amendment, what it would do is it would hold things up. This is the one time in history where we have a chance of passing a balanced budget amendment, sending it to the States, letting the States make the…

Let me conclude with just one more sentence to answer the Senator's question. The fact is we have never been able to do it up to now, and there is no way that we should hold the amendment hostage, assuming we pass it by a two-thirds vote…

I enjoyed listening to my dear colleague from Massachusetts, and almost everyone, I think, knows of my affection for him. But we know what is going to happen if we do not do this balanced budget amendment. He and his friends are going to…

I particularly enjoyed the comments of the distinguished minority leader of the Senate. He is a very fine man. I am sure he is very sincere in what he is talking about. And he is a good friend. I do not have any desire to make this a…

Mr. President, it is ironic that on April 1, 1993 the vast majority of those who now support the Daschle right-to-know amendment voted to adopt a budget blueprint paving the way for President Clinton's massive tax increase before President…

We think that is not the way to go. We believe we have to pass the balanced budget amendment, get it out to the States, and I assure my colleague, Republicans and Democrats will get together and we will have to come up with that glidepath…

I respect the Senator and his Democratic colleagues for standing up and doing what they thought was right. We did not think it was right because we did not want to increase the taxes the way they did--or you did, the highest tax increase…

I have to tell you if we keep doing that, Social Security is going to be very, very badly harmed. I have always maintained that I would personally oppose Social Security benefit cuts. I believe we have made an obligation to our retirees…