[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 15 (Wednesday, January 25, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    THE CONSTITUTION: A DOCUMENT INTENDED TO ENDURE FOR AGES TO COME

  (Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Madam Speaker, over a period of more than two 
centuries, we have amended the Constitution 27 times, 27 times in more 
than 200 years.
  Madam Speaker, the text of the 27th amendment was prepared September 
25, 1789, and was not ratified until May 19, 1992, 203 years later.
  With this amendment and the amendment for term limits, the majority 
proposes to ratify the Conmstitution two times in 100 days. The House 
Committee on the Judiciary approved the balanced budget amendment in 
exactly 1 week after we convened the 104th Congress. The Senate 
Judiciary Committee approved it 1 week after the House did.
  Now, 3 weeks after we have convened, we are being asked to actually 
amend the Constitution and send it to the States. This impetuous pace, 
this haste, is a far cry from John Marshall's of the Constitution as 
the document intended to endure for all ages.
  Madam Speaker, amending the Constitution is a serious matter. It is 
not to be done in haste.

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