[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 98 (Thursday, June 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S8488]
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 memorable evening in 1972 when I 
learned that I had been elected to the Senate in 1972, one of the 
commitments I made to myself was that I would never fail to see a young 
person, or a group of young people, who wanted to see me.
  It certainly proved beneficial to me because I've been inspired by 
the estimated 60,000 young people with whom I've visited during the 
nearly 23 years I've been in the Senate.
  Most of them have been concerned about the magnitude of the Federal 
debt that Congress has run up for the coming generations to pay. The 
young people and I always discuss the fact that under the U.S. 
Constitution, no President can spend a dime of Federal money that has 
not first been authorized and appropriated by both the House and Senate 
of the United States.
  That's why I began making these daily reports to the Senate on 
February 22, 1992. I wanted to make it a matter of daily record 
precisely the size of the Federal debt which as of yesterday, 
Wednesday, June 14, stood at $4,905,557,258,890.90 (or $18,621.58 for 
every man, woman, and child in America).


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