[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H11053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HOLDING THE LINE ON INTEREST RATES

  (Mr. NADLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, it is not often that I have occasion to rise 
and commend the Federal Reserve Board, but the decision yesterday to 
hold the line on interest rates certainly merits commendation.
  We all know the Federal Reserve Board is allergic to good economic 
news. If too many Americans find jobs, the Fed ominously warns of 
runaway inflation when there is no evidence of inflation, and cranks up 
interest rates to slow the economy down. The Fed has seemed determined 
to maintain an unemployment rate, to guarantee an unemployment rate of 
at least 5.6 percent or more. To keep this in perspective, every 
percentage point of unemployment represents 1.3 million Americans.
  That should be a cause for concern to anyone in this Chamber who has 
been conscientiously cutting the deficit or scrapping the Nation's 
social safety net in the belief that their efforts will lower interest 
rates and put people to work.
  So my congratulations to the Federal Reserve for enduring the 
economic good news with restraint. Hopefully this is a sign that in the 
future we may be able to begin to count on the Fed to help, not hinder, 
the effort to improve the lives of all Americans.
  And as a consequence of this, Mr. Speaker, I again ask and I join my 
colleagues in asking that the Ethics Committee stop covering up and 
release the Gingrich report.

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