Tom Harkin

Monetary policy has to work for all of our people, not just a few. It has to be cognizant of what is happening to ordinary people in this country. Our dollar is much too strong right now. Because of that, they can't get the kinds of…

This says, ``The President and Congress should encourage the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.'' It didn't say we should have them consider it. That time has passed. I might have agreed with the Senator from New Mexico a year ago…

I have a chart to show that the real Federal funds rate is at its highest level in nine years. What does that mean? What that means is that real rates of interest are at a very high point. For example, even Chairman Greenspan said earlier…

I thought one of the things it might take is for the Senate of the United States to clearly express itself to the members of the Federal Open Market Committee to lower interest rates now. There are increasing signs of a possible recession…

But to say we cannot vote to tell the Fed what to do because it would be politicizing it or we cannot interfere I believe somehow is an abdication of our responsibilities, not only our rights but our responsibilities as policymakers to…

This Senator was not aware of that. Is the Senator telling me that the Federal Reserve, which I have just stated is a creature of Congress, and exists by law, that the General Accounting Office, our accountant, cannot audit the Federal…

It is bigger by a tremendous magnitude. We deal here in budgets in terms of billions of dollars. I know it sounds like a lot of money. But what the Fed does affects the entire $7 trillion economy. The Senator from Minnesota is absolutely…

As the second largest economy, Japan's poor economic situation is going to have a very significant effect on our economy and the economies of most other countries. Again I quote Fred Bergsten, a very respected expert in international…

One argument against lowering interest rates is that our unemployment levels are already low. Some say that our current rate of unemployment at 4.5 percent is too low, companies cannot find workers and will be forced to pay more, hurting…

There is a lot of talk in this town these days about morality and immorality. This has to do with morality. This has to do with what is moral in this society and to stick up for people who are low-income and are going hungry.

Tomorrow I will be laying down a Sense of the Congress amendment calling on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates as a preemptive strike against a recession in 1999. This is a very crucial issue coming at this point in time. I am…

If the loan rates go up, the loan rates increase, it goes to producers; it gives them a marketing tool whereby they can take the grain and market when they want and not just dump it all out there this fall. That is why we have to remove…

I agree with him absolutely, there is a convulsion going on in agriculture today. We are spiraling into a deepening crisis in agriculture all over America, especially in the Midwest. Yes, this issue is of vital importance to farm families…

It is a bad piece of legislation, and not just for working people, but for every American, for the Bill of Rights, and for our constitutional rights to be free to think and have our own consciences, this bill ought to be stopped in its…

Mr. President, I am sorry I could not have been here earlier to speak against this onerous piece of legislation. The so-called ``truth'' in employment act? It ought to be called the ``fear'' in employment act. Of all the requirements that…

No. Obviously, if someone came in with the purpose of working for me and doing a good job for constituents that I represent in the State of Iowa and is willing to do the job, is dedicated to that job but also wanted, for example, to…

I agree with the Senator, this is a matter of accountability. Senators should have the right to speak, but they should also have the right to cast their vote one way or the other, up or down, on the amendment. So I am hopeful that there…

I heard some talk around here that some on the other side of the aisle are talking about coming up with a new program called lost market compensation payments, or something like that. So, as I understand it, it would just be a set rate of…

Secondly, Madam President, I learned this morning of a poll that had been taken, and the poll has just been released. I believe it was released at 2:30 this afternoon, so the paper is still hot, just off the press. It is quite a startling…

I thank the President. A poll came out today of 1,000 farmers taken nationwide by a polling firm. It was done for the Nebraska Wheat Growers, American Corn Growers and the Nebraska Farmers Union--1,000 farmers. Two questions I will point…

Farmers continue to suffer huge losses through absolutely no fault of their own. No other business has less control of the price they can receive for what they produce, the cost of the inputs. Farmers cannot control the weather. They…

I know a lot of us were out in our States during the August recess. I was too. I had a series of meetings around the State with farm families and people in small towns and communities and rural areas. Quite frankly, what I found was more…

I rise to share some of my reasons for voting in favor of the Specter-Biden amendment that restored the Comprehensive Test Ban ``prepcom'' funding. I strongly supported the Specter-Biden amendment to restore the $28 million for the U.S…

Now, why am I taking the time here late at night to talk about this? Because we are about to go out on a break. We are going to go out for the month of August. In the first week of September when we come back, the chairman of the Labor…

I believe we will be able to work this out in a manner that will be, I hope, conducive to getting the money that we need immediately--just the basic requirements that we want for the National Institutes of Health, that we want for LIHEAP…