[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 21, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SENATE RESOLUTION 18--RELATIVE TO THE NATIONAL DEBT

  Mr. FAIRCLOTH submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Governmental 
Affairs, jointly, pursuant to the order of August 4, 1977 with 
instructions that if one committee reports, the other committee has 
thirty days to report or be discharged:

                               S. Res. 18

       Whereas the United States national debt is approximately 
     $4.9 trillion;
       Whereas the Congress has authorized the national debt by 
     law to reach $5.5 trillion;
       Whereas it is likely that the 105th Congress and the 
     President will both present plans to balance the budget by 
     the year 2002, by which time our national debt will be 
     approximately $6.5 trillion.
       Whereas this accumulated debt represents a significant 
     financial burden that will require excessive taxation and 
     lost economic opportunity for future generations of the 
     United States;
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that any 
     comprehensive legislation that balances the budget by a 
     certain date and that is agreed to by the Congress and the 
     President shall also contain a strategy for reducing the 
     national debt of the United States.

                          ____________________