On the recordNovember 18, 2011
Had this amendment been in place during the income contraction we just experienced, we would have abandoned the economic field to the Darwinian forces at work and guaranteed that the Great Recession became the second Great Depression, condemning our citizens to their own fate, one which would have been characterized for a generation with want, double-digit unemployment, and endemic poverty. {time} 1140 Why would any Member of this body consciously choose such a course, especially when there are alternatives, although painful ones? Perhaps it's easier to pander to the clamor of the moment or to seek out the seductively easy answers. Perhaps we seek to mask an ideological agenda to starve the government investments cloaked in the more respectable argument of a constitutional amendment made necessary to balance the budget. For me, the Founders' silence on this matter in the Constitution was intentional. They understood and expected that Congress would meet its duties and do its job.
