Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Special Message to the Congress on Removal of the Interest Rate Ceiling on Government Bonds.

January 12, 1960

To the Congress of the United States:

As I said in my State of the Union Message, the Treasury is being prevented from taking debt management actions that are fully consistent with the public interest because of the artificial interest rate ceiling on new Treasury medium-term and long-term issues.

In a special message to the Congress on June 8, 1959, I urged the removal of this archaic restriction on flexible debt management. Congressional inaction on that request has resulted in a much more rapid increase in short-term debt than would otherwise have occurred. As a result, short-term Treasury borrowing costs have risen to the highest levels in several decades and the ability of debt management to operate in a manner consistent with sound principles of sustained economic growth has been seriously undermined.

I deem it imperative, therefore, that this restrictive ceiling be removed. I am asking the Secretary of the Treasury to transmit to the Congress proposed legislation designed to attain this objective.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Special Message to the Congress on Removal of the Interest Rate Ceiling on Government Bonds. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235110

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