i can't help but just take the opportunity to -- your reference to chairman voelker. 1978 is when congress passed this rule that made monetary policy independent of gao audits. subsequently, the support of subsequently, the support of president carter and president reagan for chairman voelker, was the reason inflation was conquered and it did set the stage for many years of prosperity. again, it's just a case study of why federal reserve policy independence is so critical. with respect to deficits, i agree very much that we cannot continue to have deficits that make our debt relative to our gdp rise indefinitely. we need to come down, deficits that are closer to 2% to 3%, not 4% or 5%. if we do that in the medium term we can begin to stabilize the amount of debt relative to the gdp. >> let me interrupt you to make this point. i'm an ap eighter, which is maybe not a good thing to do -- be in this election year. i'm an ap yater. the appropriations committee has influence over 1/3 of the federal budget. the other 2/3 is on automatic pilot in mandatory spending for entitlement programs we're d

subsequently, the support of president carter and president reagan for chairman voelker, was the reasoninflation was conquered and it did set the stage for many years of prosperity. again, it's just a case study of why federal reserve policy independence is so critical. with respect to deficits, i agree very much that we cannot continue to have deficits that make our debt relative to our gdp rise indefinitely. we need to come down, deficits that are closer to 2% to 3%, not 4% or 5%. if we do that in the medium term we can begin to stabilize the amount of debt relative to the gdp. >> let me interrupt you to make this point. i'm an ap eighter, which is maybe not a good thing to do -- be in this election year. i'm an ap yater. the appropriations committee has influence over 1/3 of the federal budget. the other 2/3 is on automatic pilot in mandatory spending for entitlement programs we're discussing on the floor of the senate the creation of another major entitlement program, and the percentage that we have any control over keeps going down. further, of the 1/3, half of that is the defense