[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 88 (Thursday, May 25, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S7490]
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, on that November evening in 1972 when I 
learned I had been elected to the Senate, I made a commitment to myself 
that I would never fail to see a young person, or a group of young 
people, who wanted to see me. In the nearly 23 years since that 
election night, I have been inspired by an estimated 60,000 young 
people with whom I have visited.
  Most of them have expressed concern about the enormous Federal debt 
that Congress has run up for coming generations to pay. Almost without 
exception the young people and I discuss the U.S. Constitution which 
forbids that any President spend even a dime of Federal money that has 
not first been authorized and appropriated by both the House and Senate 
of the United States.
  Mr. President, I have been making these daily reports to the Senate 
since February 22, 1992. I began because I wanted to make it a matter 
of daily record the precise size of the Federal debt. As of yesterday, 
Wednesday, May 24, the Federal debt stood at $4,887,785,166,023.46--
$18,554.12 for every man, woman, and child on a per capita basis.

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