Political Quotes

“it occurs to me that all Senators swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. I carry a copy around with me. It is our duty. It is our responsibility. But the pending amendments to the Constitution that are on the floor of the Senate threaten the constitutional principles that have sustained our democracy for more than 200 years. In addressing the Nation's debt and deficit, what is lacking are not phrases in our Constitution. What is lacking is the seriousness within today's Congress to act, and the willingness in Congress to cooperate in forgoing solutions that meet the real needs of our country and its people. These are human failures, not the failure of our constitutional framework. Nor are these failures insoluble or inherent. We balanced the budget and even created budget surpluses less than two decades ago. Now we are being asked to put the problem once again under the pillow for another day--this radical partisan proposal would be out of place in our national charter. Never in our history have we amended the Constitution--the work of our Founders--to impose budgetary restrictions that require supermajorities for passing legislation. Yet now it seems every Member on the other side of the aisle has joined to put forth a radical proposal to burden our Constitution with both of these kinds of strictures. The Hatch-McConnell proposal is different in kind than any other amendment to our Constitution.…”