[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S5179]
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, anyone even remotely familiar with the U.S. 
Constitution knows that no President can spend a dime of Federal tax 
money that has not first been authorized and appropriated by Congress--
both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
  So when you hear a politician or an editor or a commentator declare 
that ``Reagan ran up the Federal debt'' or that ``Bush ran it up,'' 
bear in mind that the Founding Fathers, two centuries before the Reagan 
and Bush presidencies, made it very clear that it is the constitutional 
duty of Congress to control Federal spending, though Congress has 
failed to do so for the past 50 years.
  The fiscal irresponsibility of Congress has created a Federal debt 
which stood at $4,876,206,792,345.50 as of the close of business 
Tuesday, April 4. This outrageous debt, which will be saddled on the 
backs of our children and grandchildren, averages out to $18,510.16 on 
a per capita basis.


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