[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 23, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S7230]
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, the impression simply will not go away: 
Today's $4.8 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 
added misery of the American taxpayers.
  So many politicians talk a good game--when, that is, they go home to 
talk--and ``talk'' is the operative word--about bringing Federal 
deficits and the Federal debt under control.
  But, sad to say, so many of these very same politicians have 
regularly voted for one bloated spending bill after another during the 
103d Congress and before. 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, Monday, May 22, at the 
close of business, the total Federal debt stood--down to the penny--at 
exactly $4,883,843,317,167.73 or $18,539.15 per man, woman, child on a 
per capita basis. Res ipsa loquitu.


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