Byron Dorgan: “It was not a tax debated on the floor of the Senate. If we had that debate, my friend from Texas, Senator Gramm, the…”

“It was not a tax debated on the floor of the Senate. If we had that debate, my friend from Texas, Senator Gramm, the distinguished chairman of the Banking Committee, would be on the floor, I guarantee you, because when we debate taxes he is on the floor. He is a passionate combatant in those debates. But we cannot have that debate on the floor of the Senate because the Federal Reserve Board does not have a debate in public. It does it in secret. What I am saying is, I think the Federal Reserve Board process needs to be more open. I know the response and the rejoinder to that will be: Well, the Senator wants to make the Federal Reserve Board process politics on the floor of the Senate. That is not my point. My point is, I think there ought to be, leading into this process somehow, some interests of the American people. It does not exist at the moment. It is my intention to not support this renomination. I expect this renomination will carry with a very large vote in the Senate, but it will not carry with my vote because I believe monetary policy ought to change in this country. I do not believe our country is growing too fast. I do not believe too few people are unemployed. I do not share that view, that is too often shared in the bowels of the Federal Reserve Board. I would like someday for us to have a monetary policy that represents the entire interests of our country, not just the interests of money center banks.”