[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 57 (Tuesday, March 28, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S4684]
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 enormous Federal debt, which has 
already soared into the stratosphere, is in about the same category as 
the weather: Everybody talks about it but almost nobody had undertaken 
to do anything about it--until, that is, immediately following the 
November elections.
  When the 104th Congress convened in January, the U.S. House of 
Representatives promptly approved a balanced budget amendment to the 
U.S. Constitution. And in the Senate, while all but one of the 54 
Republicans supported the balanced budget amendment, only 13 Democrats 
supported it. Thus, the balanced budget amendment failed by one vote--
but there'll be another vote on it later this year or next year.
  This episode--the one-vote loss in the Senate--emphasizes the fact 
that too many politicians talk a good game, when they are back home, 
about bringing Federal deficits and the Federal debt under control. But 
then they come back to Washington and vote in support of bloated 
spending bills rolling through the Senate.
  As of the close of business yesterday, Monday, March 27, the Federal 
debt stood, down to the penny, at exactly $4,847,680,358,682.01. 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.
  So, don't be misled by politicians who falsely declare that the 
Federal debt was run up by some previous President. These passing-the-
buck declarations are false because, as I said earlier, the Congress of 
the United States is the culprit. The Senate and the House of 
Representatives have been the big spenders for the better part of 50 
years.
  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, the Cuban missile crisis was 
in progress. A billion minutes ago, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ had 
occurred a few years previously.
  Which sort of puts it in perspective--does it not?--that it was 
Congress that ran up this incredible Federal debt totaling 4,847 of 
those billions--of dollars. In other words, the Federal debt, as I said 
earlier, stood this morning at 4 trillion, 847 billion, 680 million, 
358 thousand, 682 dollars, and 1 cent. It'll be even greater at closing 
time today.


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