[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S17059]
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 $13 billion shy of $5 trillion, has been fueled for a 
generation by bureaucratic hot air--sort of like a hot air balloon 
spinning 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 U.S. 
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 Democratic 
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 Tuesday, November 14, the Federal debt--
down to the penny--stood at exactly $4,987,139,764,503.11 or $18,931.27 
on a per capita basis for every man, woman, and child.

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