[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 130 (Saturday, August 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S11603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           IS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE? CONSIDER THE ARITHMETIC

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the impression will not go away: The $4.9 
trillion Federal debt stands today as a sort of grotesque parallel to 
television's energizer bunny that appears and appears and appears in 
precisely the same way that the Federal debt keeps going up and up and 
up.
  Politicians like to talk a good game--and ``talk'' is the operative 
word--about reducing the Federal deficit and bringing the Federal debt 
under control. But watch how they vote.
  Control, Mr. President. As of Thursday, August 3, at the close of 
business, the total Federal debt stood at exactly $4,956,664,786,501.42 
or $18,815.58 per man, woman, child on a per capita basis. Res ipsa 
loquitur.
  Some control, is it not?
  

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