[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 99 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
H. RES. 99

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives on the calculation 
                      of the Consumer Price Index.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 24, 1995

Mr. Wynn submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
          Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives on the calculation 
                      of the Consumer Price Index.

Whereas the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has 
        maintained that the current Consumer Price Index may overstate inflation 
        or the true cost of living by \1/2\ to 1\1/2\ percent per year;
Whereas removing any upward bias in the cost of living may help eliminate one 
        rationale for raising interest rates as the Board of Governors of the 
        Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee has used 
        inflationary trends, as evidenced by the Consumer Price Index, to raise 
        interest rates 7 times in the last 12 months;
Whereas the Bureau of Labor Statistics, under the United States Department of 
        Labor, is charged with calculating the Consumer Price Index, and is 
        resisting calls to change how the Bureau calculates the cost of living; 
        and
Whereas factors believed to be contributing to the upward bias in the Consumer 
        Price Index are its failure to take into account that consumers buy more 
        goods at discount stores, its failure to factor in product quality 
        improvements, as well as reliance on spending patterns dating from 1982-
        1984 which do not reflect that consumers buy more goods that have fallen 
        in price and less of goods that have risen in price: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or an independent panel 
        of experts convened by the Secretary of Labor, should 
        immediately review the Consumer Price Index to determine 
        whether there is an upward bias; and
            (2) if the Bureau of Labor Statistics or such independent 
        panel determines the existence of an upward bias, appropriate 
        steps should be taken immediately to eliminate the bias.
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