[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 131 (Monday, August 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S11735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          WAS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE? CONSIDER THE ARITHMETIC

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, it does not take a rocket scientist to be 
aware that the U.S. Constitution forbids any President to spend 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.
  So when a politician or an editor or a commentator pops off 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.
  Thus, it is the fiscal irresponsibility of Congress that has created 
the incredible Federal debt which stood at $4,945,941,078,492.53 as of 
the close of business Friday, August 4. This outrageous debt--which 
will be passed on to our children and grandchildren--averages out to 
$18,774.87 for every man, woman, and child in America.


                          ____________________