MNI TRANSCRIPT: Powell on U.S. Debt

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following is the portion of a transcript from

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference after the FOMC meeting

Wednesday:

     Q: As you saw with falling yields over the beginning of this month, there's

been a lot of demand for U.S. treasuries and liquidity crunch in repo markets we

saw this week.  Does The Fed have concerns over global glut for U.S. debt?  Is

there a conversation you have with Treasury Secretary about addressing

challenges down the road with that type of heavy interest? 

     A: Not really, no.  That's really treasury's job and Congress's job.  In

terms of how much to spend and how big the deficits are and how to finance it,

none of that really calls for advice from The Fed.  We take fiscal policy pretty

much as exogenous to our work.  

   Now... that doesn't stop us from time to time from saying that we think it's

important that the U.S., fiscal picture, return to a sustainable footing. 

And... you know... right now, it's not, that's been the case for a long time

and... that's something we will have to address and... a good time to do it is

when the economy's strong.  We limit ourselves to high-level statements like

that. 

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 202 371 2121; email: alexandra.kelley@marketnews.com

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