Matt Collins
10-11-2009, 12:31 AM
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aQty_t2GCxKo
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ben+S.%0ABernanke&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) will win U.S. Senate approval for a second four-year term, a Republican member of the committee overseeing the nomination predicted.
“He’ll be no doubt confirmed,” Tennessee Senator Bob Corker (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Bob%0ACorker&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), who sits on the Banking Committee, said in an interview in Washington with Bloomberg News today. The vote won’t be unanimous, as some Republicans and Democrats may oppose the Fed chief, Corker said.
The banking panel plans to hold a confirmation hearing for Bernanke within a few weeks, Christopher Dodd (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Christopher+Dodd&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), the Connecticut Democrat who chairs the committee, said yesterday. Approval will put Bernanke in a position to decide when to raise interest rates again after lowering them almost to zero last year and reverse the $1 trillion of Fed credit to banks and the economy.
“I want him to have the ability to unwind this,” Corker, 57, who joined the Senate in 2007, told editors and reporters in Bloomberg’s Washington bureau. “He’s very focused on the inflationary impact of leaving what he’s done in place too long. I want to give him the ability to mop up the balance sheet and get us back where we need to be.”
In a speech yesterday, Bernanke said the central bank will be prepared to tighten monetary policy when the outlook for the economy “has improved sufficiently.”
President Barack Obama (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack+Obama&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) in August announced his nomination of Bernanke, a 55-year-old former Princeton University economist, for a second term beginning in February. Bernanke was appointed in 2006 by Republican President George W. Bush (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=George+W.+Bush&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1).
Request for Delay
Dodd said yesterday the committee will not delay the confirmation as requested by U.S. Representatives Ron Paul (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ron+Paul&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) and Alan Grayson (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Alan+Grayson&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), who asked in a letter that Dodd postpone the process until the Fed releases documents about its emergency loans during the financial crisis.
Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and commercial real estate developer, gained prominence in the Senate as he tried last year to broker a legislative compromise on assistance to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. He joined Democratic Senator Mark Warner (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Mark+Warner&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) of Virginia this year to introduce bills to help wind down failing banks and move government stakes in companies to a newly created trust.
On proposed changes to financial legislation, Corker said lawmakers might strike a middle ground between the Obama administration’s proposal to reduce the number of main banking regulators to three from four and Dodd’s plan to consolidate all four into one.
‘Less Than Three’
“My guess is we will end up potentially with less than three but not one,” Corker said. “So that leaves two.”
Bernanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Sheila+Bair&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), two of the regulators, have “a lot of concerns” about Dodd’s plan, which may be “driving a stake in the ground at the other end of the spectrum,” Corker said.
Debate over legislation may stretch into 2010 and potentially past March, because discussion on the Senate floor over health care is likely to take four or five weeks, Corker said. Also, “this is going to be far more complex than meets the eye,” he said.
Finishing a financial-regulation overhaul this year “is very, very impractical, and I think a mistake,” Corker said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Lanman (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Scott+Lanman&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) in Washington at slanman@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: October 9, 2009 12:32 EDT
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ben+S.%0ABernanke&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) will win U.S. Senate approval for a second four-year term, a Republican member of the committee overseeing the nomination predicted.
“He’ll be no doubt confirmed,” Tennessee Senator Bob Corker (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Bob%0ACorker&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), who sits on the Banking Committee, said in an interview in Washington with Bloomberg News today. The vote won’t be unanimous, as some Republicans and Democrats may oppose the Fed chief, Corker said.
The banking panel plans to hold a confirmation hearing for Bernanke within a few weeks, Christopher Dodd (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Christopher+Dodd&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), the Connecticut Democrat who chairs the committee, said yesterday. Approval will put Bernanke in a position to decide when to raise interest rates again after lowering them almost to zero last year and reverse the $1 trillion of Fed credit to banks and the economy.
“I want him to have the ability to unwind this,” Corker, 57, who joined the Senate in 2007, told editors and reporters in Bloomberg’s Washington bureau. “He’s very focused on the inflationary impact of leaving what he’s done in place too long. I want to give him the ability to mop up the balance sheet and get us back where we need to be.”
In a speech yesterday, Bernanke said the central bank will be prepared to tighten monetary policy when the outlook for the economy “has improved sufficiently.”
President Barack Obama (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Barack+Obama&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) in August announced his nomination of Bernanke, a 55-year-old former Princeton University economist, for a second term beginning in February. Bernanke was appointed in 2006 by Republican President George W. Bush (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=George+W.+Bush&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1).
Request for Delay
Dodd said yesterday the committee will not delay the confirmation as requested by U.S. Representatives Ron Paul (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ron+Paul&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) and Alan Grayson (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Alan+Grayson&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), who asked in a letter that Dodd postpone the process until the Fed releases documents about its emergency loans during the financial crisis.
Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and commercial real estate developer, gained prominence in the Senate as he tried last year to broker a legislative compromise on assistance to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. He joined Democratic Senator Mark Warner (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Mark+Warner&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) of Virginia this year to introduce bills to help wind down failing banks and move government stakes in companies to a newly created trust.
On proposed changes to financial legislation, Corker said lawmakers might strike a middle ground between the Obama administration’s proposal to reduce the number of main banking regulators to three from four and Dodd’s plan to consolidate all four into one.
‘Less Than Three’
“My guess is we will end up potentially with less than three but not one,” Corker said. “So that leaves two.”
Bernanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Sheila+Bair&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), two of the regulators, have “a lot of concerns” about Dodd’s plan, which may be “driving a stake in the ground at the other end of the spectrum,” Corker said.
Debate over legislation may stretch into 2010 and potentially past March, because discussion on the Senate floor over health care is likely to take four or five weeks, Corker said. Also, “this is going to be far more complex than meets the eye,” he said.
Finishing a financial-regulation overhaul this year “is very, very impractical, and I think a mistake,” Corker said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Lanman (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Scott+Lanman&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) in Washington at slanman@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: October 9, 2009 12:32 EDT