[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 45 (Friday, March 10, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3801-S3802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                            MORNING BUSINESS

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          THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT--AN ISSUE OF PRINCIPLE

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, during the past several weeks I have been 
contacted on the subject of the constitutional amendment to balance the 
budget by nearly 10,000 Americans--most, but not all of them, North 
Dakotans. I know people felt strongly on all sides of this issue. I 
respect these different viewpoints, and I appreciate the opportunity to 
give my colleagues some information and background about why I voted as 
I did.
  And I want to start by saying simply this: I have an unwavering 
commitment to balancing this Nation's budget, and that commitment is a 
longstanding one--dating back to the first vote I cast in favor of a 
constitutional amendment a dozen years ago, in 1982.
  That was during my first term in Congress. Since that time I have 
voted for balanced budget amendments again and again. I voted ``yes'' 
in 1990 and in 1992, after the huge deficits created during the 1980's 
and early 1990's caused the Federal debt to explode to $4 trillion.
  Last year I voted for it yet again. But I cast that vote with the 
firm assurance from the leading proponents of the amendment that Social 
Security trust funds would not be used to balance the budget.
  This year in the Senate we cast two votes on constitutional 
amendments. I voted for the earlier of the two, Senator Feinstein's 
substitute constitutional amendment to balance the budget. It was 
identical in every respect to the main constitutional amendment 
proposal offered by Senators Hatch and Simon except for one important 
difference. It included a provision prohibiting use of the Social 
Security trust fund to balance the Federal budget. That proposal 
failed.
  During the 2 days following that vote, I was involved in negotiations 
to try to get the sponsors of the Hatch-Simon amendment to modify their 
proposal so it would not result in raiding Social Security trust funds 
to balance the budget. Our negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful, 
and I therefore cast a ``no'' vote on that amendment.
  The issue for me is one of principle--not politics. I felt it was 
important to stand up and fight for that principle, and that is what I 
did. I know the popular thing to do would have been to vote for this 
constitutional amendment. But if we are going to change the 
Constitution then we need to do that the right way. And in my mind, 
protecting the Social Security trust fund is the right way.
  We collect Social Security taxes to fund the Social Security system 
with a dedicated tax out of the paychecks of workers. It is supposed to 
go into a trust fund. Those who would use that trust fund to balance 
the Federal budget, in my judgment, are involved in dishonest 
budgeting. And yet, that's exactly what the constitutional amendment 
would have done.
  I know proponents protested publicly they had no intention of doing 
that, but in our private negotiations they admitted they could not 
balance the budget without Social Security trust funds. In fact, in 
private they said they wanted to use those funds for the next 
[[Page S3802]] 13 years and would stop after that point. That is not 
honest budgeting.
  I know the Federal deficit is a crippling problem for this country. 
So I still hope we will be able to reach an agreement on the Social 
Security issue, and if we do I will vote for a constitutional amendment 
to balance the budget at some point in the coming months.
  But we should understand that changing the Constitution does not 
change the budget deficit. That has to be done and it can be done 
during the regular budget and appropriations process. And I pledge to 
work as hard as I can--to fight in every way I can--to reduce this 
deficit.
  This week I proposed a budget process that would require a balanced 
budget by the year 2000 without raiding the Social Security trust fund. 
I intend to work hard to cut spending to accomplish that.
  I want this country to have a balanced budget and I will work hard 
toward that goal.


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