[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 41 (Monday, March 6, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S3494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         WAS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBILE? THE VOTERS HAVE SAID YES!

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, up to now the incredibly enormous Federal 
debt has been like the weather--everybody has talked about it but 
hardly anybody has undertaken the responsibility of doing anything 
about it. The balanced budget amendment failed to pass the Senate--by 
one vote! There'll be another vote later this or next year.
  A lot of politicians talk a good game--when they are back home--about 
bringing Federal deficits and the Federal debt under control. But many 
of them regularly vote in support of bloated spending bills that roll 
through the Senate, and the American people took note of that on 
November 8.
  As of Friday, March 3, at the close of business, the Federal debt 
stood--down to the penny--at exactly $4,840,472,285,419.16. 
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 must never be able to spend 
even a dime unless and until authorized and appropriated by the U.S. 
Congress.
  The U.S. Constitution is quite specific about that, as every 
schoolboy is supposed to know.
  Do not be misled by politicians who declare 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 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 this billions--of 
dollars. In other words, the Federal debt, as I said earlier, stood 
this morning at 4 trillion, 840 billion, 472 million, 285 thousand, 419 
dollars, and 16 cents. It will be even greater at closing time today.


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