[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 117 (Thursday, August 18, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 18, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          IS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE? YOU BE THE JUDGE OF THAT

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the incredibly enormous Federal debt is 
like the weather--everybody talks about the weather but nobody does 
anything about it. Many Senators talk a good game when they are back 
home about bringing Federal deficits and the Federal debt under 
control, but look how so many of them vote on bloated spending bills 
that roll through the Senate.
  As of Wednesday, August 17, at the close of business, the Federal 
debt stood--down to the penny--at exactly $4,668,682,813,919.54. This 
debt, do not forget, was run up by the Congress of the United States. 
The Founding Fathers decreed that the big-spending bureaucrats in the 
executive branch of the U.S. Government should never be able to spend a 
dime unless and until it had been authorized and appropriated by the 
U.S. Congress. The U.S. Constitution is quite specific about that, as 
every school boy is supposed to know.
  And do not be misled by declarations by politicians that the Federal 
debt was run up by some previous President or another, depending on 
party affiliation. Sometimes they falsely claim that Ronald Reagan ran 
it up; sometimes they play hit-and-run with George Bush. These buck-
passing declarations are false because the Congress of the United 
States is the culprit. The Senate and the House of Representatives are 
the big-spenders.
  Most people cannot conceive of a billion of anything, let alone a 
trillion. It may provide a bit of perspective to bear in mind that a 
billion seconds ago, Mr. President, the Cuban missile crisis was in 
progress. A billion minutes ago, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ had 
occurred not long before.
  That sort of puts it in perspective, does it not, that Congress has 
run up a Federal debt totaling 4,668 of those billions--of dollars. In 
other words, the Federal debt, as I said earlier, stands today at 4 
trillion, 668 billion, 682 million, 813 thousand, 919 dollars and 54 
cents.

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