Patrick Leahy: “I thank the Senator for his customary courtesy. Mr. President, someday somebody will sit down and write scholarly…”

“I thank the Senator for his customary courtesy. Mr. President, someday somebody will sit down and write scholarly articles about this debate. I commend my friend from Utah, who has spent more time on the floor, I believe, than any other Senator. As the amendments have come from this side, it has been easier for me, as the Democratic floor manager, to leave and allow those proposing them to speak. He has stayed here throughout. Mr. President, even though my friend from Utah and I have been on opposite sides on this issue, there have been extremely important arguments. Senators can disagree over the question of the three-fifths vote requirement, whether that changes our normal idea of how a legislative body should work, and on the issues of Social Security. Those arguments have been important. Capital budgets have been important. No matter how the final vote comes out--and I suspect it will be voted down--I think that the American public has had the opportunity to hear some aspects of a constitutional amendment debated that, as I have gone back and read various debates, have not come out previously with the same strength and clarity. We have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of constitutional amendments proposed every decade. We have, however, amended the Constitution only 17 times since the Bill of Rights. We are the most powerful democracy history has ever known--in fact, the most powerful country.…”