[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 12743]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

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                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following 
nomination on today's Executive Calendar, Alan Greenspan, which was 
reported by the Banking Committee today. I further ask unanimous 
consent that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the 
Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The nomination considered and confirmed is as follows:


                         federal reserve system

       Alan Greenspan, of New York, to be Chairman of the Board of 
     Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a term of four 
     years.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Senate has confirmed the 
nomination of Alan Greenspan to continue for yet another term as 
chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. While I did not force the Senate 
to take a rollcall vote on the matter, I do want to make it clear for 
the record that had such a vote been taken, I would have opposed Mr. 
Greenspan's confirmation.
  I hold Chairman Greenspan in high regard as a dedicated public 
servant; however, I am concerned that the economic objectives that Mr. 
Greenspan aims to advance all too often come at the expense of 
Americans who are too young, too old, or too poor to belong to the 
investor class. During earlier years of his tenure, I worried that his 
slow-growth, high-interest manipulation of monetary policy hurt 
American workers. This year, my concerns about his decisions as 
Chairman grew to alarm. I was stunned to read that Mr. Greenspan 
supported the President's tax cuts for the wealthiest people and 
corporations among us, while at the same time predicting that growing 
Federal budget deficits and the retirement of baby boomers would 
require cuts in Social Security and Medicare. It was particularly 
shocking given his enthusiastic support for deficit reduction during 
the Clinton administration.
  Our economy is becoming deeply and disturbingly stratefied, and it is 
eating away at our country. Our fiscal policy and the monetary policy 
that Chairman Greenspan has steered have created a gulf separating the 
haves and have-nots in America, a gulf so wide that it seems like even 
a lifetime of dedicated and hard work can no longer guarantee Americans 
a ticket into the middle class. I worry that if we do not try to 
correct our economic policy and return it to a fairer and more just 
course, we will not be holding true to our promise of affording 
opportunity to everyone.
  I am pleased to see that at last the economy is beginning to show 
signs of growth and job creation. However, it is essential that we pay 
attention to whether that prosperity is shared by more than just a 
small handful of people occupying the top rungs of our economic ladder. 
We need to make sure that our economic prosperity doesn't come at the 
expense of elderly people depending on Social Security or young people 
trying to get a start in the job market. I believe that we need someone 
at the helm of the Federal Reserve who gives these matters the regard 
that they deserve.

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