[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S6301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          WAS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE? THE VOTERS HAVE SAID YES

  Mr. HELMS. Madam President, the skyrocketing Federal debt--which long 
ago soared into the stratosphere--is in a category somewhat like the 
weather--everybody talks about it but almost nobody had undertaken the 
responsibility of trying to do anything about it until immediately 
following the elections last November.
  When the 104th Congress convened in January, the U.S. House of 
Representatives approved a balanced budget amendment. In the Senate 
only one of the Senate's 54 Republicans opposed the balanced budget 
amendment; only 13 Democrats supported it. Thus, the balanced budget 
amendment failed by just one vote. There will be another vote later 
this year or next year.
  As of the close of business yesterday, Monday, May 8, the Federal 
debt stood--down to the penny--at exactly $4,856,502,980,514.90 or 
$18,435.37 for every man, woman, and child on a per capita basis.


                          ____________________