[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 92 (Wednesday, June 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7801-S7802]
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, there is no requirement that one has to be 
a rocket scientist to know 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. [[Page S7802]] 
  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--a duty Congress cannot escape--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 $4,904,368,578,709.58 as of the close of business 
Tuesday, June 6. This outrageous debt, which will be passed on to our 
children and grandchildren, averages out to $18,617.07 on a per capita 
basis.


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