[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 4397]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE VERY BAD DEBT BOXSCORE

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, today, March 15th, is the Ides of March for 
1999. Like Caesar, Congress and the Administration are ignoring the one 
thing that has the potential to cripple our nation by crippling the 
booming U.S. economy--I am speaking of the Federal Debt.
  While the political debate addresses the budget surplus, the balanced 
budget, and Social Security, it ignores the larger and lingering 
problem of the federal debt, and the lurking interest on the federal 
debt. Essentially, Mr. President, the forest cannot be seen for the 
trees.
  Well, Mr. President, I am one who far prefers to examine to see the 
whole picture. If we continue to ignore the escalating debt and its 
enormous interest growing almost one billion dollars daily--just to pay 
the interest, mind you--then we will continue to risk economic bedlam 
down the road.
  With these thoughts in mind, Mr. President, I begin where I left off 
Friday:
  At the close of business, Friday, March 12, 1999, the federal debt 
stood at 5,653,581,734,840.04 (Five trillion, six hundred fifty-three 
billion, five hundred eighty-one million, seven hundred thirty-four 
thousand, eight hundred forty dollars and four cents).
  One year ago, March 12, 1998, the federal debt stood at 
$5,529,750,000,000 (Five trillion, five hundred twenty-nine billion, 
seven hundred fifty million).
  Fifteen years ago, March 12, 1984, the federal debt stood at 
$1,464,623,000,000 (One trillion, four hundred sixty-four billion, six 
hundred twenty-three million).
  Twenty-five years ago, March 12, 1974, the federal debt stood at 
$469,792,000,000 (Four hundred sixty-nine billion, seven hundred 
ninety-two million) which reflects a debt increase of more than $5 
trillion--$5,183,789,734,840.04 (Five trillion, one hundred eighty-
three billion, seven hundred eighty-nine million, seven hundred thirty-
four thousand, eight hundred forty dollars and four cents) during the 
past 25 years.

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