[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 73 (Thursday, May 4, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S6147]
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, it doesn't require one to be a rocket 
scientist to realize that the U.S. Constitution forbids any President's 
spending even 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--which they have not for 
the past 50 years.
  The fiscal irresponsibility of Congress has created a Federal debt 
which stood at $4,855,154,897,104.21 as of the close of business 
Wednesday, May 3. This outrageous debt--which will become the debt of 
our children and grandchildren--averages out to $18,430.25 on a per 
capita basis.

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