[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 28 (Monday, February 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2536-S2537]
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 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 great many politicians talked a good game--when they 
were back home--about bringing Federal deficits and the Federal debt 
under control. When they got back to Washington, 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, February 10, at the close of business, the Federal debt 
stood--down to the penny--at exactly $4,805,266,970,855.19. 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 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 you hear false claims that Ronald Reagan 
ran it up; sometimes they play hit-and-run with George Bush.
  [[Page S2537]] These buck-passing 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 four trillion, 805 billion, 266 million, 970 thousand, 
855 dollars and 19 cents. It'll be even greater at closing time today.


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