Council on Wage and Price Stability Statement on Signing S. 2352 Into Law.

I have signed into law, S. 2352 which extends authority for the Council on Wage and Price Stability through September 30, 1981, and authorizes appropriations of $9,770,000 for that period.

The bill also includes a provision which allows the powers granted the President under the Credit Control Act of 1969 to expire on June 30, 1982. Under that act the President, in a period of serious inflationary threat stemming from excessive credit expansion, may authorize the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve to impose various kinds of controls over the extension of credit. I believe that abolishing the authorization granted to the President under the act is highly unwise, because many of the act's provisions can be extremely helpful at critical periods in the fight against inflation. This is no time to strip a President of inflation-fighting powers. At the same time, I recognize that certain improvements to the Credit Control Act may be desirable. It is my hope that during the next 18 months Congress will enact a new Credit Control Act that saves the essential inflation-fighting powers that the act makes available.