Yellen Blames Slowing Federal Spending for Sluggish Economy

YELLEN: "We have had a very tight fiscal policy at home. At the onset of the recession, we have had a good deal of fiscal consolidation in the United States. At a time when fiscal policy normally in the past would have been serving to create jobs, fiscal policy from that standpoint has served as a headwind to the recovery. We have had a disappointing recovery and monetary policy has tried to do what we can to offset that."