[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THERE IS NO ACCURATE WAY TO MEASURE CPI

  (Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, using the CPI to measure cost of living 
adjustments is nothing more than a feeble attempt to measure dollar 
depreciation. This is no more accurate than using stock and bond prices 
to measure inflation.
  I have a lot of reservations and think we are making a serious 
mistake by delivering to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the authority 
to manipulate the CPI numbers. This is ducking our congressional 
responsibility, and it is a back-door way to raising taxes and 
manipulating the entitlements. I think, most importantly, it fails to 
recognize the basic flaw in our system, and that is the monetary policy 
and a depreciating of currency.
  But we have a lame duck President quite willing to accept the 
responsibility and to accept more executive legislative powers from the 
Congress, something the Constitution does not authorize. But here we 
have a President quite willing to, behind the scenes, raise taxes and 
manipulate the cost of living.
  The truth is there is no accurate way to measure the cost of living 
index.

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