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One of two Democrats to retire from US Federal Reserve Board in August
OUTSIDE INTERESTS:
The 65-year-old Democrat Edward Gramlich said he will teach at the University of Michigan, and also wants to write a book on the airline industry
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, WASHINGTON
Friday, May 20, 2005, Page 12
Edward Gramlich, one of two Democrats on the Federal Reserve Board, said on Wednesday that he would resign at the end of August.
Gramlich, who is 65, joined the Fed in 1997. He said he would become a professor at the University of Michigan and had plans to write books on the economics of airlines and on low-income housing.
Gramlich's resignation will leave two open positions on the seven-man Federal Reserve Board. The other vacancy will be created by the departure of Ben Bernanke, who has been nominated to become chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
In recent years, Federal Reserve governors have displayed few partisan divisions over monetary policy. Though board members frequently disagree about the timing or the nuances of policy issues, they have tended to agree about placing top priority on restraining inflation.
Gramlich's departure will be part of a broader change at the Fed, which will culminate with the retirement of Alan Greenspan, the Fed chairman, early next year.
US President Bush, now faced with replacing Gramlich, has not yet nominated someone to succeed Bernanke. Nor has he hinted at the biggest decision of all -- a replacement for Greenspan.
Gramlich, who was appointed by president Clinton, came to the Fed as an expert on poverty issues. In the early 1990s, he was chairman of a presidential commission on Social Security that recommended a plan to add personal retirement accounts on top of the existing system.
Gramlich represented the Fed on the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, and has served as its chairman since its formation. The board was created by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to oversee US$10 billion in loan guarantees for the struggling airline industry. After prolonged debates, including a scuffle with the Treasury Department, the board rejected three bids by United Airlines for loan guarantees. United, which sought bankruptcy protection in December 2002 after its first bid was turned down, has yet to emerge from bankruptcy.
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