Mr. President, thank you very much. And I thank my colleagues for working with me to get a time agreement, which I hope will enable all of our colleagues who have various views on the amendment I shall offer an opportunity to express them today before we have a vote.<p>
Mr. President, my amendment, which has been coauthored by Senator Leahy of Vermont, will enable the Congress to respond to a federally declared disaster should the balanced budget amendment become part of the Constitution.<p>
I am proud that we have a number of cosponsors. They include Senator Feinstein</b>, my colleague from California; Senator Bumpersfrom Arkansas; Senators Inouyeand Akakafrom Hawaii; Senator Murrayfrom Washington, and there are others.<p>
Mr. President, balancing the Federal budget is a goal we should attain. You know, I saw this national debt go from $1 trillion to $4 trillion in the decade of the eighties and there was a very clear reason why this happened--huge increases in the military, huge tax cuts to the wealthy. And I will tell you, it does not add up to a balanced budget. It led to a terrible situation which finally, under President Clinton, we were able to get our arms around when, unfortunately on straight party lines, we did have a vote to reduce that deficit, and the deficit is now about half of where it would have been. So we are making progress.<p>
There are those who believe we must have this amendment in the Constitution in order to continue progress. I think the facts belie that. I just want to make sure that if we do have this amendment, it is in fact a flexible one. We should be able to act to meet the needs of our people. Why else are we here if we cannot do so?<p>
The only exception in this amendment that would enable Congress to take the budget out of balance with a simple majority vote rather than a supermajority vote is a declaration of war. Of course, that makes sense. But there are other times that it should take a simple majority.<p>
For every other emergency right now in this amendment to the Constitution, we would have to have 60 votes in the Senate out of 100 Senators and 261 out of 435 votes in the House of Representatives to respond.<p>
In other words, Mr. President, we would need a supermajority to take the budget out of balance for the particular year in which a disaster struck. We are not just talking about a small problem here. We are talking about a federally declared disaster. We would take a supermajority to take us out of balance to fund that disaster emergency.<p>
Now, Mr. President, I believe that creates a dangerous situation that flies in the face of reason. It flies in the face of reason. It is dangerous. I believe it is reckless, because I believe responding to disasters and emergencies is one of the most honorable and dutiful obligations of this U.S. Senate.<p>
Many Members have felt the pain of seeing our States damaged very badly. Our people dislocated, families mourning the dead and the injured because of a natural disaster. Floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, severe storms, volcanoes.<p>
Many have gone to the shelters. I think the most haunting memories of all those trips that I have made, unfortunately, on too many occasions in my State in the north and the south and everywhere, the most haunting memories to me are the faces of the elderly and the children who were so disoriented when something like this happens. They are rooted out of their homes and they are afraid. We need to respond in those kinds of desperate circumstances.<p>
Now, I think a reasonable question to ask me is, Senator, how big a problem is this in the Nation? Are you just talking about your State of California? Some might say we could understand why you would feel this way, but what about the rest of the United States?</body>
