[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 71 (Tuesday, May 2, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S5997]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          IS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE? THE VOTERS HAVE SAID YES!

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, there's an impression that simply will not 
go away--that the $4.8-plus-trillion Federal debt is a grotesque 
parallel to the energizer bunny we see, and see, and see on television. 
The Federal debt keeps going and going and going--up, of course!--
always to the misery of the American taxpayers.
  So many politicians talk a good game--when, that is, they go home to 
take--and talk is the operative word--talk about bringing Federal 
deficits and the Federal debt under control.
  But, oddly enough, so many of these same politicians regularly voted 
for one bloated spending bill after another during the 103d Congress. 
Come to think about it, this may have been a primary factor in the new 
configuration of U.S. Senators as a result of last November's 
elections.
  In any event, Mr. President, as of yesterday, Friday, May 1, at the 
close of business, the total Federal debt stood--down to the penny--at 
exactly $4,860,333,100,308.86 or $18,449,91 per person. Res ipsa 
loquitur.

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