[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

  (Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, passage in its current form of the House 
joint resolution, the balanced budget amendment, would reshape the 
political landscape and impact the American people in ways that have 
never been felt before.
  To avoid that result, I urge two changes: One, that we should not 
punish those who have given all of their lives--the aged; we should 
exempt Social Security from the balanced budget calculation.
  Social Security is, indeed, the contract that the older Americans 
have with their country. That contract should not be breached. It 
should not be broken. It should not be modified, particularly for those 
who are in the sunset of their lives who have come to realize that this 
is their only hope for a quality of life.
  Second, Mr. Speaker, we should tell the people what we will cut and 
what we will not. It is undemocratic to say that we are fiscally 
responsible and fail to tell the people what we will do.
  America wants reform, but America wants reform knowing what they are 
doing.

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