[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 96 (Tuesday, June 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S8205]
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, the skyrocketing Federal debt, which long 
ago soared into the stratosphere, is in a category like the weather--
everybody talks about it but scarcely anybody had undertaken the 
responsibility of trying to do anything about it. That is, not 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'll be another vote later this 
year or next year.
  As of the close of business yesterday, Monday, June 13, the Federal 
debt stood--down to the penny--at exactly $4,901,416,297,287.27 or 
$18,605.86 for every man, woman, and child on a per capita basis.

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