Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke caused widespread confusion when comparing the eventual bond-buying taper to a plane coming in for a landing on an aircraft carrier.
His most recent remarks were much more to the point.
“The economic recovery has continued at a moderate pace in recent quarters despite the strong headwinds created by federal fiscal policy,” Bernanke told the House Committee on Financial Services July 17.
In case they weren”™t listening, he elaborated: “The risks remain that tight federal fiscal policy will restrain economic growth over the next few quarters by more than we currently expect, or that the debate concerning other fiscal policy issues, such as the status of the debt ceiling, will evolve in a way that could hamper the recovery.
Translation: Maybe if Congress got out of its own way once in a while, this recovery would be much further along, companies would be stronger positioned and fewer Americans would be out of a job.
While it may be clich̩, Senate Democrats and Republicans have repeatedly come together in the past few months to tackle the tough issues, culminating with the passage of an immigration reform bill. Was the controversy over the fate of the filibuster childish? Sure, but in the end the body was able to move past an impasse and push through votes on President ObamaӪs nominees.
In the opposite chamber, the failure of House Republican leadership to rein in the party”™s far-right faction is downright embarrassing. One need look no further than the recent farm subsidies bill, which, for decades, has included funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or food stamp, program.
A version of the farm bill that would have cut $20 billion from the food stamp program over 10 years failed after House Democrats ”” who thought the cuts were too severe ”” joined conservative Republicans ”” who thought the cuts didn”™t go far enough ”” in opposing the bill.
As a result, House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor capitulated, bringing a bill that could cut as much as $100 billion from food stamps, while maintaining subsidies to the country”™s largest agribusinesses, to a vote. The bill narrowly passed after 12 Republicans and all 196 Democrats voted against it.
Abe Scarr, director of the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group, summed it up succinctly in a recent conversation with the Business Journal: “It”™s hard to be that optimistic about Congress these days.”
