Patty Murray: “Dr. Tyson, probably more clearly than anyone I have heard in the past few days, explains how dangerous this resolution…”

“Dr. Tyson, probably more clearly than anyone I have heard in the past few days, explains how dangerous this resolution is and why the American people have a right to know what our budget will look like before we act on this measure. Mr. President, the staff of the Budget Committee prepared an analysis of the balanced budget amendment which puts the abstract words of this resolution into perspective. Now, as you know, Mr. President, the proponents of this resolution tell us we must have a balanced budget in the year 2002. But, they refuse to tell us how they will achieve that balance. They will not level with the American people about what they will cut and what they will eliminate. And, Mr. President, the American people have a right to know. They have a right to know before we pass this amendment how this will affect them. If we pass this resolution with an exemption for Social Security, defense, and some other sensitive programs and if we still enact all the tax cuts in the Contract With America, and all of that is possible, we will see a 50-percent across-the-board cut in all other programs. Is this responsible budgeting, Mr. President? Is this rational? Is this common sense? If we put this resolution into action, Mr. President, agricultural programs could take a 50-percent cut. So could highway funds. We could lose half of our education and job training money, and we could lose half of our student loans.”