Summary

Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) holds a news conference to discuss the Balanced Budget Amendment.

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 260574
Story Slug ROBERT TORRICELLI / BUDGET AMENDMENT NEWS CONFERENCE (1997)
Location WASHINGTON, DC
Format TVD
Date 2/26/1997
Archive Time 3:32
TRT 2:54
Description Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) holds a news conference to discuss the Balanced Budget Amendment.
Script (SUGGESTED TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO) Unknown Speaker 00:00 And while I compliment them, I also want to make clear that I have absolutely no regrets over having voted for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. on three different occasions. The pressure of an amendment to require a balanced budget played an enormous role in the current reduction of the federal annual deficit, to the lowest point in 40 years. Indeed, the United States now has the lowest annual federal deficit of any industrialized democracy in the world, what has overtaken I want my friends and my constituency to know that I have struggled with this decision, more than any that I have ever made in my life. I have spent countless hours with hundreds of people throughout New Jersey and in the Congress, and I'm indebted to each of them. At the end of the day, I'm left with the fact that I believe that I was chosen to serve the United States Senate to exercise my best judgment. I have made a pledge to my seeing a judgement today. I want you to know, finally, I have approached this with enormous reverence for the constitution of our country. I believe that the Constitution of the United States is as close to perfection as ever achieved in the affairs of state. This is not to suggest that it should never be changed. The balanced budget amendment has good aspects. But it is simply not good enough. In dealing with fundamental constitutional change for our country, it's your opponent for doing the same thing on Medicare. Well, I promised in the campaign that I would vote for a balanced budget. An hour ago, I offered amendments that I think would have made it possible to support that balanced budget amendment. an hour from now I vote for Mr. Dawkins provisions which make further changes in the balanced budget. I believe at the end of the day, the reason we have representative government and going forward again, I am prepared to vote for it. The senator lot and Senator Hatch can have an amendment to the United States Constitution to balance the budget. But it is going to have to deal with several of these issues to assure people by the future social security, capital expenditures, and this issue of recessions and the ability of the country to defend itself in the military emergency. This is too serious to business that people are simply going to take wording on faith without answering those questions. Numerous
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