Russ Feingold: “I also rise to support this amendment. I offered a similar version of the right-to-know amendment, the glidepath…”

“I also rise to support this amendment. I offered a similar version of the right-to-know amendment, the glidepath amendment, in the proceedings in the Senate Judiciary Committee. I thought it was the best discussion we had in the committee after a couple of days of discussion. I thought the discussion on the right-to- know amendment was really the most thoughtful and the one that really crystallized the issue. In at least two important ways, this is the truth amendment. First, in one sense the amendment is a truth test. If the supporters of this constitutional amendment are serious about balancing the budget, this amendment is the one that really provides that opportunity. The central concern I have had with the proposed balanced budget amendment is that it will actually undercut our efforts to reduce the deficit and balance the budget by just providing political cover for those who are unwilling to make these really tough decisions. Having voted for the balanced budget amendment, I fear Members will feel free to duck the real work of actually identifying and voting for real spending cuts and they will be able to continue to do this ducking of the issue as the States go through the rather laborious process of trying to see if they are going to ratify this thing in the next year or 2 or 7 years.”