[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S15220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE BAD DEBT BOXSCORE

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the skyrocketing Federal debt, now about 
$25 billion short of $5 trillion, has been fueled for a generation by 
bureaucratic hot air; it is sort of like the weather, everybody has 
talked about it but almost nobody did much about it. That attitude 
began to change immediately after the elections in November 1994.
  When the new 104th Congress convened this past January, the U.S. 
House of Representatives quickly approved a balanced budget amendment 
to the U.S. Constitution. On the Senate side, all but one of the 54 
Republican Senators supported the balanced budget amendment.
  That was the good news. The bad news was that only 13 Democrat 
Senators supported it, and that killed the balanced budget amendment 
for the time being. Since a two-thirds vote--67 Senators, if all 
Senators are present--is necessary to approve a constitutional 
amendment, the proposed Senate amendment failed by one vote. There will 
be another vote during the 104th Congress.
  Here is today's bad debt boxscore:
  As of the close of business Monday, October 16, the Federal debt--
down to the penny--stood at exactly $4,967,827,640,196.29 or $18,857.96 
for every man, woman, and child on a per capita basis.

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