[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 31 (Thursday, February 16, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2775-S2777]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE CLOTURE VOTE

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, at 10:30, in less than 25 minutes, there 
will be a vote on the majority leader's cloture motion. I want to take 
a couple of minutes to comment on that prior to the time we vote.
  I regret we have to take a vote at this time. I believe, frankly, as 
I said the other day, it is unnecessary. I am concerned that it sends 
the wrong message to the American people about how seriously we 
consider the process of amending the U.S. Constitution.
  The implicit suggestion behind the motion is that shutting off debate 
on this very serious and complicated issue is necessary because 
Democratic Senators are filibustering the balanced budget amendment and 
obstructing the debate, when the truth is just the opposite. There is 
no filibuster here. There have been very few quorum calls over the last 
several days. The Senate floor has been busy, virtually every minute. 
Senators have been on the floor. They have been here offering 
amendments, debating the issues. They have been busy doing exactly what 
we are all elected to do, to consider carefully some of the most far-
reaching issues that they and the American people face.
  Democratic Senators have not employed dilatory tactics. To the 
contrary, we have offered legitimate and very serious amendments that 
ought to be given serious consideration by all Senators--several 
amendments that, in my view, as I said just a moment ago, would have 
made this particular balanced budget amendment much stronger. 
Unfortunately, the obstruction has come from the other side. Every 
Democratic amendment has been tabled--virtually along party lines. 
Anyone who has been on or watched this debate over the last several 
days knows very well that the substance of these amendments has been 
seemingly of little concern. They have been tabled, not because of 
their content, but simply because they were offered.
  This issue is far too serious to simply step aside and avoid the 
stampede. Amending the Constitution is just about the most serious step 
the Congress and States can take. It should not be taken lightly. And 
it should reflect the most thoughtful and inclusive debate that we have 
to offer. It should reflect the best ideas we have to offer. A vote to 
cut off this debate artificially is a vote to obstruct that thoughtful 
and inclusive process. It is premature, it is unnecessary, and, under 
these circumstances, I view it as a disservice to the American people.
  It is also a direct threat to the rights of all Democratic Senators, 
each of whom have a right to offer amendments. As I said, there have 
been virtually no quorum calls; virtually every amendment has been 
relevant. In recent days nearly every Democratic Senator has agreed to 
a time limit on the debate on his or her amendment. And these have been 
important amendments.
  We debated, as we again talked this morning, about the right to know, 
and spelling out to the American people how we are going to accomplish 
a balanced Federal budget--what kind of blueprint we are going to use, 
what kind of tools we will acquire and utilize to accomplish a balanced 
budget in just 7 years.
  We talked about Social Security and the need to protect it, to take 
it off the table to ensure that we are not going to mask the size of 
the debt with the size of the Social Security trust fund.
  We talked about enforcement. Simply saying we are going to balance 
the budget with no legal mechanism in place to ensure that we are going 
to enforce what we say we are going to do makes anyone wonder just how 
serious we are about doing it in the first place.
  We talked about the need to separate operating capital from 
investments in the future--how we do that in business, how we do that 
in State governments, how we need to compare apples and apples when we 
compare the Federal Government to the State government and how a 
capital budget would allow us to do that.
  We talked about circumstances relating to natural disasters. The 
Senator from California raised a very difficult issue. How do we 
address serious problems relating to the disasters that occur in every 
part of the country all too frequently once we have a balanced Federal 
budget?
  It is very disconcerting that virtually every amendment was defeated 
on a near party-line vote. Regardless of the vote, there are many more 
very important, relevant amendments that deserve our careful 
consideration. Not all amendments that are pending will be offered. I 
know that mention was made yesterday about how many amendments are 
still pending. Some of those amendments were offered just to protect 
Democratic Senators in case there is a cloture vote and it passes. We 
know what happens when cloture votes are filed. Amendments are also 
filed simply to ensure that every Senator has a right to protect 
himself or herself. That is really what has gone on in the last couple 
of days. Senators want to know that they have the opportunity to be 
involved in this debate and to commit to a process by which these 
issues can be raised. That is what filing amendments is all about in 
situations as we have this morning.
  We may be able to come to some agreement. In fact, I would almost 
ensure, to our colleagues on the other side, that we will come to some 
agreement with regard to a finite list of amendments and some way with 
which to work through them as we have done in several of our bills 
already this year.
  The point is no one is trying to delay a final vote. We know that the 
final 
[[Page S2776]] vote will come in the not too distant future. But it is 
absolutely critical, especially on an issue of this importance, that 
all Members have a right to be heard.
  So this cloture vote is not necessarily reflective of how one will 
ultimately vote on the balanced budget amendment. This vote is about 
whether Democratic Senators have a right to raise legitimate issues 
that they believe would improve the amendment before us.
  So I certainly urge my colleagues to reject the motion to invoke 
cloture at this time.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. HATCH addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I have a great deal of affection for the 
minority leader, both as a person and as a leader. I think he is doing 
a very good job for his side of the floor. I understand that this is an 
important vote and that it is more of a procedural vote this morning. 
We all know how it is going to turn out. But I will just say this. As 
someone who has conducted a few filibusters in my 18 years, some of 
which have been successful and some of which have not, I know a 
filibuster when I see one. I am sure the distinguished minority leader 
does not feel that his side is filibustering or the opposition to the 
amendment is filibustering. But last evening, for instance, we wanted 
to go to one more amendment before the evening was up. We could not 
find one person to offer an amendment that we could vote on that 
evening.
  Be that as it may, I am not going to criticize what the distinguished 
minority leader has said, and we will have more days of debate. That is 
only fair. This is a very, very important amendment. And it involves 
the future of our country. It involves the future of our children and 
our grandchildren. It is going to make a difference, if we pass it, 
whether our children and grandchildren have a future. If we do not pass 
it, I just say, ``Katie, bar the door.''
  Just to make that point a little bit better, we are now in our 18th 
day on this amendment. There are very few things in the history of the 
Senate that take 18 days. We are now in our 18th day on our balanced 
budget amendment debt tracker, the increase as we debate. There is a 
$4.8 trillion national debt that we start with, and we are now in our 
18th day. I will put up the information indicating the additional debt 
that is going to accumulate by the end of this day for the taxpayers to 
pay and pay interest on it. It is almost $15 billion, just the amount 
of debt that has accumulated since we started 18 days ago.
  Mr. President, what about the vote to bring this debate to a close? I 
think we need to stop talking and start working on getting our fiscal 
house in order by passing the balanced budget amendment and working 
together to balance the budget. The American people want and need us to 
do this.
  Mr. President, our large national debt and the yearly deficits that 
help it grow hurt real people, average working people all across our 
country. And continuing down the path we are on will only make matters 
worse for all of us and our children.
  Last week there was an article in the Washington Post by James 
Glassman, a person I have a great deal of regard for, who I believe did 
an excellent job of stating in an understandable way how and why the 
deficit hurts the average working American. He called this discussion 
``The Plain English Guide to the Federal Budget,'' and it began with 
the sage assertion that ``Big deficits can make you poor. They tend to 
retard the growth of the private sector, raise interest rates, and 
weaken our economy.''
  We are talking about $15 billion just in the 18 days that we have 
debated here. We are fiddling while the country is burning. That is 
really what is happening.
  He says, ``They tend to retard the growth of the private sector, 
raise interest rates, and weaken our economy.''
  This is exactly why we need the balanced budget constitutional 
amendment--because Congress' fiscal madness is destroying the ability 
of the working American to make enough money to survive.
  Every year hard-working Americans pay the price for our profligacy. 
The Tax Foundation has calculated that in 1994 the average American 
worked from January 1 to May 5 just to pay his or her taxes--January 4 
to May 5. They did not get to keep 1 cent of the money they earned 
until May 6. Is not that incredible? Put another way, in an 8-hour work 
day, the average American works the first 2 hours and 45 minutes just 
to pay taxes. So for 8 hours we are working almost 3 to pay taxes. This 
is bad enough. But it is not the end of the story.
  The increasing Federal debt will force us to raise taxes to 
astronomical rates just to keep the country solvent. The National 
Taxpayers Union has estimated that a child born today, on average, will 
pay over $100,000 in extra taxes over the course of his or her lifetime 
just to pay the interest on the national debt which accumulated in the 
first 18 years of that child's life. Just think, Mr. President. By the 
time the child becomes old enough to vote--I am talking about our 
children and our grandchildren--there will be a $100,000 tax bill 
looming on his or her horizon. And that is only to pay the interest on 
the debt accumulated in that child's first 18 years. That is pathetic. 
That is the legacy we are leaving to our children and grandchildren.
  The National Taxpayers Union has determined that for every year we 
endure another $200 billion deficit--and the President's budget says we 
are going to endure them ad infinitum, $200 billion budget deficits for 
12 years--for every year that we endure that, it costs the average 
child over $5,000 over his or her lifetime--every year we do that.
  Mr. President, the budget submitted by President Clinton projects 
$200 billion deficits for each of the next 5 years--actually, each of 
the next 12 years. By conceding defeat on deficit reduction, President 
Clinton is condemning every child in America to an additional $25,000 
in taxes racked up just over the next 5 years. There is no refuting 
that unless we do something about it. We are, too, as a Congress, 
unless we do something about it and change.
  But the bad news about the debt does not end there either. The 
Competitiveness Policy Council has shown that rising budget deficits 
have led to a 15 percent decline in real wages in the last 15 years, 
and the National Taxpayers Union has further calculated that in the 
next 45 years, unless we get spending under control, after-tax incomes 
will rise over that 45 years, cumulatively rise, $125--average 
incomes--unless we get the debt under control or our spending under 
control. Can you imagine? In 45 years the most you are going to get out 
of the whole 45 years is an additional $125. That is not a year; that 
is over 45 years.
  These deficits are strangling middle-class Americans throughout our 
country. How can people expect to bear the burden of stagnating wages 
and higher tax rates?
  We simply cannot continue blindly down this road to economic 
oblivion. Look at those 18 days on the chart; 18 days, just going up 
like that. That is the debt that is accumulating while we fiddle here 
in Washington.
  We must get the Government spending under control, and the only way 
to do that is to change the way Congress does business with a permanent 
unavoidable rule, and the only rule we can get is the balanced budget 
amendment. It will force Congress to consider the costs as well as the 
benefits of every program in the Federal Government. We will lower the 
unbelievable amount of Government spending and bring the deficit under 
control.
  All other attempts to balance the budget have failed, and they have 
failed miserably. Over the full 19 years I have been here, we have had 
attempt after attempt, and they have all failed because they have been 
statutes and the minute somebody passes a 51-percent majority vote, 
they are changed. Every year the debt grows, relentlessly sapping the 
life of the American economy as it does. Under the President's latest 
plan, the debt is going to grow--under his best assertions, and these 
are assuming optimistic assertions--another $1 trillion. By the end of 
the next 5 years we will be over $6 trillion in debt, and we are 
complaining about $4.8 
[[Page S2777]] trillion now. Because it is going up almost $1 billion a 
day, we will be $6 trillion in debt. His budget is not an attempt to 
reduce the deficit. It is a recognition that unless we change the 
budget process to eliminate Congress spending bias, it is going to be 
impossible to reduce the deficit.
  Mr. President, we have the opportunity to make a historic change 
here. We can pass the balanced budget amendment and preserve the future 
for our children, our grandchildren, and this country. We can stop this 
runaway Federal train of spending and taxing that is out of control 
right now. I urge my colleagues to support the balanced budget 
amendment today so that we and our children will have a prosperous 
tomorrow.
  This morning will end our third full week of debate on this 
amendment. We started debate on the subject matter even before the bill 
was brought to the floor during the unfunded mandates debate. We have 
had 11 votes on amendments and spent 14 days on floor debate on this 
constitutional amendment so far, more than we have ever spent debating 
a balanced budget amendment before. Back in 1982, which was the next 
toughest debate, we debated 11 days before passing the balanced budget 
amendment by 69 votes. I hope that our longer debate this year will 
mean our margin of victory will be proportionately higher.
  As we have said, every day while we talk, the debt we leave our 
children and grandchildren continues going up to a shocking point. This 
must end and must end soon. Mr. President, let us tell the American 
people in this cloture vote when we will stop talking and start acting 
to bring this country to fiscal sanity. Let us pass the balanced budget 
amendment to the States for ratification and get on with balancing the 
budget.
  We have had 11 votes, and every one we have won on a bipartisan vote. 
Democrats and Republicans have voted with us, every one. There is 
nothing partisan about this. Anybody who tries to say this is a 
partisan debate just has not watched it and has not looked at the 
voters and has not realized that this balanced budget amendment is a 
bipartisan consensus, a Democrat-Republican effort, to save our 
country, and to help our children and grandchildren have the futures 
that we all had when we were born.
  I was born in poverty. We did not have indoor facilities. We lost our 
first home shortly after I was born. We did not have indoor facilities 
in the second home for years. I thought all homes were kind of brown 
and dark because my dad built our home out of a torn-down old burnt-out 
building. Frankly, I thought everyone had a Pillsbury flour sign on the 
side of their home. I thought that was a pretty unique thing, and it 
really was.
  To make a long story short, I had a future even though I was born in 
the Depression, because Congresses had not run the country totally into 
the ground from a national debt standpoint. But we have done it now, 
and we have to change our way of doing things around here.
  I emphasize again that the first vote was 56 to 44. There were a 
number of Democrats voting with us. The Dole amendment passed 87 to 10, 
a lot of Democrats. The Reid amendment was defeated on a motion to 
table, 57 to 41, a lot of Democrats with us. The next was 70 to 28, a 
lot of Democrats. Then 66 to 32, 52 to 45, Senator Hollings, that was a 
close vote. Still a number of Democrats helped to defeat that. Then 59 
to 40, 59 to 40, and 52 to 47 last night; eight or nine Democrats voted 
with us on that. Then 51 to 38, 61 to 33, the last vote, and a lot of 
Democrats voted on that. This is a bipartisan effort. There is no 
reason for a filibuster or delay here. There is no reason not to get 
about business. There is no reason not to come up with amendments when 
the time comes.
  I am willing to proceed and happy to proceed in any way our 
colleagues want to do this. But do not try to present this as partisan, 
a Democrat-Republican difference here. This is a bipartisan effort. We 
have made it that. I am proud of my Democratic colleagues that are 
standing up on this amendment. All we need are 15 to stand up and we 
will pass this, 15 out of 47. That is all we need. Gee, there ought to 
be 15 Democrats in the Senate out of 47 who will help us. I know of 13. 
I think I know of 14. Who is going to be that 15th vote, or the one 
that defeats this, if that is what happens? I do not believe it will.
  I do not believe that our colleagues, when we put forth this kind of 
a bipartisan, heartfelt, eager effort, are going to shoot this down for 
the one time in history, after the House of Representatives had the 
guts to pass it, with the help of I believe 78 courageous Democrats in 
the House. We need 15 courageous Democrats here and I think we will get 
them. I believe we will get them, because this is the time in history 
when we can make a statement against what has been going on, this 
runaway train of Federal spending, this abdication of responsibility, 
this rejection of our children's and grandchildrens' future. Let us do 
something about it and quit talking partisan politics, and let us work 
together to get it done.
  To the extent that this delay and a final vote will continue after 
today, let us do the best we can to bring up as many amendments as we 
can and debate them, and we are happy to do that. I think the debate 
has been healthy. I commend Senators on both sides of the aisle for the 
excellent debate they have given to us, and I hope our colleagues will 
vote for cloture today so that we can end the delay and have the 
responsible amendments that are left brought up. And let us vote on 
them and then let us pass the balanced budget amendment for the benefit 
of everybody--Democrats, Republicans, all loyal Americans--but most of 
all, for our children and grandchildren.

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