[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 82 (Thursday, June 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S5933]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE VERY BAD DEBT BOXSCORE

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the impression will not go away: The $5 
trillion Federal debt stands today as an increasingly grotesque 
parallel to the TV energizer bunny that keeps moving and moving and 
moving--precisely in the same manner and to the same extent that the 
President is sitting on his hands while the Federal debt keeps going up 
and up and up into the stratosphere.
  Same old story. Some politicians talk a good game--``talk'' is the 
operative word here--about cutting Federal spending and thereby 
bringing the Federal debt under control. But watch what they do when 
efforts are made to balance the Federal budget.
  Mr. President, as of the close of business yesterday, Wednesday, June 
5, the Federal debt stood at exactly $5,141,669,992,686.17, which 
amounts to $19,401.82 per man, woman, child on a per capita basis.

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