Tom Harkin

the minority staff of the Joint Economic Committee prepared some charts that I think are illustrative of what has been wrong with Mr. Greenspan's leadership at the Federal Reserve. The first chart simply shows the speed by which the…

finally we have gotten to the nomination of Alan Greenspan to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. I have been waiting for several months for this opportunity, to have the opportunity to debate not just the nomination but what this…

I think Mr. Greenspan's economic perceptions are locked in the 1960's and 1970's. And the world has changed dramatically since that point in time. So, let us say--let us assume that the floor on unemployment is not 5.5 percent. Let us just…

I think Mr. Rohatyn, really in both those articles, has really outlined what our policy ought to be at the Federal Reserve. That is, a policy of balance. That is what he is arguing for. He is not saying, forget about inflation. He is…

That's because the economic assumptions made by both sides are faulty. The Congressional Budget Office forecast is for 2.3 percent annual growth for the seven-year period; the administration's is for 2.5 percent annual growth. Both…

I think you can see a pattern here throughout his entire adult lifetime of, quite frankly, being wrong on the economy and misjudging what is taking place. Again, it is my observation that, when you find people who are consistently wrong in…

I rise today to offer the Move It or Lose It Health Coverage Act. This is a straightforward bill that says if Members of Congress fail to move health insurance portability for Americans in a way that can be signed into law, then they will…

I wanted to read a few of the lines from this editorial. We may have an exciting new contrary indicator: Alan Greenspan's predictions. Our search of the record has never found him to be right about what the economy, inflation or interest…

According to the CBO, the ballistic missile shield mandated by the De-Fund America Act will cost between $30 and $60 billion just to develop and deploy. Ironically, the very same people who insisted that President Clinton rely on the CBO…

Senator Domenici is proposing a second-degree amendment which increases funding for education, job training and health by $2 billion and funding for nondefense discretionary programs by $5 billion overall. The Domenici amendment is not all…

this amendment divides the first reconciliation bill. All this amendment does is it takes welfare reform and separates it from Medicaid reform. It puts welfare reform in the first reconciliation bill. It leaves Medicaid reform in the…

last month I introduced the Commonsense Middle-Class Tax Relief Act which embodies the principles outlined in this sense-of-the-Senate resolution offered by the Senator from Minnesota. I enthusiastically support the pending amendment. Too…

here we go again. The budget resolution goes about balancing the budget in all the wrong ways by placing education at the bottom of the Nation's priority list once again. I am pleased to cosponsor and support the Kerry amendment. The…

I hope we can get good support for this amendment on both sides of the aisle and get about the business of passing a good, strong, welfare reform bill this year in a bipartisan manner. The budget resolution goes about balancing the budget…

Mr. President, I believe there is overwhelming support in this body and in this country for tough, commonsense welfare reform. The Senate passed such a bill by a vote of 87 to 12 last year. The President has repeatedly said he would sign…

In all of the organizations that I have seen which are organized under 8(a)(2), where you have employer representatives and you have management and where they met in that spirit of mutual respect, I can tell you I have not seen one case…

I cannot help but be reminded of that wonderful phrase from ``Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass,'' where Humpty-Dumpty is talking to Alice. Let me paraphrase: ``When I use a word it means just what I mean it to mean.'' And…

But it can only be done if you have that level playing field. I think we have that level field. There is nothing in section 8(a)(2) now that prohibits management and labor from getting together to discuss these items and to have working…

But let the workers decide who they want to represent them, not management. That is my point.

I would say to my friend, they want input that is genuine input from the employees, from employee organizations that are not structured by management--as I just pointed out, this was structured by management. The representatives were…

I suppose the Senator disagrees with my philosophy on this. My philosophy is that capital and labor ought to be represented equally. I do not think capital ought to be above labor, nor do I think labor ought to be above capital, but I…

No, management always makes the ultimate decision. However, it is this Senator's position that when we are talking about teamwork, in these kinds of structures, there ought to be a level playing field so that the employees can pick their…

But you see, in order for a team to work, there must be open discourse, there must be a consideration, and there must be not just the semblance of, but the genuine foundation of cooperation and equal participation. See, I think what my…

I think we ought to have more like this. I would be glad to discuss it even further because I think we start to get to the real differences here and the views of what we are trying to do here in this bill. Again, I guess the Senator and I…

But whatever we pass will not mean much if we do not make sure that our States have the tools and support they need to enforce those laws in the first place. My amendment, which is cosponsored by Senator Byrd and Senator Daschle that would…