Political Quotes

“I do support the Durbin amendment. I stated earlier that I wish it would not be tabled, that we would have a straight up-or-down vote, but I think the American public understands what the vote means. I was interested in hearing my friend, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the senior Senator from Utah, oppose the Durbin amendment last week by saying the proposed constitutional amendment does not need the flexibility of the Durbin amendment in times of economic crisis because we can build up yearly surpluses to handle tough times. The distinguished chairman said: The balanced budget amendment in no way prevents us from running a reasonable surplus which could be used to offset the effects of an economic downturn. This surplus would allow us to use fiscal policy within the balanced budget rule better than we can now without it. Not quite so. The constitutional amendment does not have that flexibility. It is very specific as it is written, and it prohibits this use of a rainy day fund.”