Kent Conrad: “we have now reached a milestone in our economic history with the report the other day that our economic expansion is now…”

“we have now reached a milestone in our economic history with the report the other day that our economic expansion is now the Nation's longest. We have now enjoyed economic expansion of 107 months. That is the longest economic expansion in our Nation's history. I thought it might be useful to reflect on some of the policies that have contributed to that success. First and foremost is the fiscal policy of the Nation. The policies that determine our economic success are the fiscal policy of the United States and the monetary policy of the United States. The fiscal policy of America is controlled by the President, working with the Congress of the United States. That is the spending policy and the tax policy of America. The monetary policy is controlled by the Federal Reserve Board. Of course, we had a vote this morning on the question of the continued leadership of Chairman Greenspan over the monetary policy of our country. With respect to the fiscal policy of the country, I thought it would be useful to compare and contrast the records of our last three Presidents.”