Political Quotes

“Mr. President, at the outset of this debate, I observed that Members of the Senate divided into three distinct groups in connection with the proposal now before us. The first was those who believe that the present budget and financial system of the Government of the United States is broken, broken seriously and requires major surgery in order to fix it. The evidence which we, a majority, in this body have cited is the fact that in 30 years we have had but one balanced budget. In the last 20 years, the total debt has multiplied by more than 10 times to almost $5 trillion, a tremendous burden on the people of the United States of America; that even at the present time, at a time of relative prosperity, we are running deficits of $200 billion a year, adding that amount to our total debt. The cure, it is the belief of the substantial majority of the Members of this body, is the balanced budget amendment in the form in which it passed the House of Representatives. The second group in this debate are those who claim allegiance to the concept of a balanced budget but not in this fashion, not through the provision for such a budget in the Constitution of the United States. Now, I believe that the overwhelming challenge to that second group is if not this way, what way?”