On the recordJuly 19, 2011
Just to the gentleman from the other side of the aisle who made the point regarding what sort of amendment that Thomas Jefferson may have been looking for today, whether he actually would be looking for one, what we call a supermajority, what have you, in point of fact I believe Jefferson would be going even further than what we are doing here today and simply say that Congress should not have the ability to borrow at all. The amendment that we are putting forward would actually give us greater flexibility with that in time of emergency, in time of war, and Congress can take it upon themselves to borrow. Jefferson understood that first and foremost that Congress, just like the businesses and families at the time, needed to live within their means. And he saw it as immoral, basically, to take the responsibilities of this generation and place them on future generations. At this time I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Womack).
