[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 175 (Tuesday, November 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S16726]
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 slightly 
in excess of $15 billion shy of $5 trillion, has been fueled for a 
generation by bureaucratic hot air--sort of like a hot air balloon 
whirling out of control--which everybody has talked about, but almost 
nobody even tried to fix. That attitude began to change, however, 
immediately after the November 1994 elections.
  The 104th Congress promised to hold true to the Founding Fathers' 
decree that the executive branch of the U.S. Government should never be 
able to spend a dime unless and until it had been authorized and 
appropriated by the U.S. Congress.
  So, when the new 104th Congress convened this past January, the House 
of Representatives quickly approved a balanced budget amendment to the 
U.S. Constitution. On the Senate side, all but 1 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's today's bad debt boxscore:
  As of the close of business Monday, November 7, the Federal debt--
down to the penny--stood at exactly $4,984,737,460,958.92.
  That amounts to $18,922.15--on a per capita basis--for every man, 
woman, and child in America.

                          ____________________