Pete Domenici: “First, Mr. President, fellow Senators, I want to talk just a bit about some of the remarks that the distinguished…”

“First, Mr. President, fellow Senators, I want to talk just a bit about some of the remarks that the distinguished chairman made with reference to the Federal Reserve Board and their policies. I was not privileged to be in attendance at the Banking Committee hearing. Perhaps the chairman was there. He and I are both members of the Banking Committee. But one of the President's designees, a rather eminent economist, Dr. Alan Blinder, now serves on the economic adviser team in the White House and I assume from economists around this land that he has a very excellent reputation. It is my understanding that, as the President's designee to the Federal Reserve, he was questioned about inflation which ultimately causes interest rates to go up. It is my understanding that he intends to fight inflation, concurring with the Federal Reserve Board's goals. I do not want to make a big point of it, because we are not going to have a lot to do with that in this budget resolution anyway. There has never been any successful effort on the part of Congress, since the Federal Reserve Board was created as an independent entity, to take the Federal Reserve and the banking system out of politics. There has never been any real successful effort to tell them what to do. There may be some political impacts on them, but I do not think we here on the floor are going to be telling them what to do.”