[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 1, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S1874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          WAS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE? THE VOTERS HAVE SAID YES

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the incredibly enormous Federal debt is 
like New Year's Resolutions--everybody talks about making them but 
rarely do very much about them.
  The New Year arrived a little over a month ago, but the Senate is 
bogged down about passing a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. 
Constitution. The Senate had better get cracking--the clock is ticking 
and the debt is mushrooming. As of the close of business yesterday, 
Tuesday, January 31, the Federal debt stood--down to the penny--at 
exactly $4,815,826,745,802.15 or $18,280 per person calculated on a per 
capita basis. This debt, don't forget, was run up by the Congress of 
the United States.
  Mr. President, most citizens cannot conceive of a billion of 
anything, let alone a trillion. Yesterday, President Clinton authorized 
a $20 billion in loan guarantees to Mexico. This figure was so 
disturbing to the American taxpayers--80 percent of them--that I felt 
compelled to discuss them during Foreign Relations Committee hearings. 
Now, multiply that $20 billion by 240--this equals the total debt of 
our Federal Government.
  Which sort of puts it in perspective, does it not, that Congress has 
run up this incredible Federal debt totaling 4,803 of those billions--
of dollars. In other words, the Federal debt, as I said earlier, stood 
this morning at 4 trillion, 803 billion, 795 million, 968 thousand, 326 
dollars and 50 cents. It'll be even greater at closing time today.

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