[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S960-S961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          WAS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE? THE VOTERS SAID ``YES''

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the incredibly enormous Federal debt is 
like the weather--everybody talks about it but up to now hardly anybody 
has undertaken the responsibility of doing anything about it. The 
Congress now had better get cracking--time's a-wasting and the debt is 
mushrooming.
  In the past, a lot of politicians talked a good game--when they were 
back home--about bringing Federal deficits and the Federal debt under 
control. But many of these same politicians regularly voted in support 
of bloated spending bills that rolled through the Senate. The American 
people took note of that on November 8.
  As of Friday, January 13, at the close of business, the Federal debt 
stood--down to the penny--at exactly 
[[Page S961]] $4,808,661,268,393.04. This debt, remember, 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 
even a dime unless and until the spending had been authorized and 
appropriated by the U.S. Congress.
  The U.S. Constitution is quite specific about that, as every 
schoolboy 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 you hear false claims that Ronald Reagan 
ran it up; sometimes they play hit and run with George Bush.
  These buckpassing declarations are false, as I said earlier, because 
the Congress of the United States is the culprit. The Senate and the 
House of Representatives are the big spenders.
  Mr. President, most citizens 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.
  Which sort of puts it in perspective, does it not, that Congress has 
run up this incredible Federal debt totaling 4,808 of those billions--
of dollars. In other words, the Federal debt, as I said earlier, stood 
this morning at 4 trillion, 808 billion, 661 million, 268 thousand, 393 
dollars and 04 cents. It will be even greater at closing time today.


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