A US Senate panel on Thursday approved the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to run the US central bank for another four years.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 16-7 to send Bernanke’s nomination to the full Senate for consideration. Approval came after a two-hour debate that heaped both praise and criticism on the Fed chief.
Although Bernanke, 56, appears to have enough votes in the Senate to win a second term, six Republicans and one Democrat on the committee did line up against him. They blame him for not spotting problems that led to the financial crisis, failing to protect consumers and supporting Wall Street bailouts.
Bernanke’s nomination comes at the height of public anger toward the Fed.
Many ordinary Americans were disgusted by the Wall Street bailouts and hefty bonuses paid to employees of those rescued companies, while ordinary Americans continued to suffer from rising unemployment, record-high home foreclosures and stagnant wages.
In turn, legislation in Congress would rein in the Fed’s powers, and a House-passed provision would subject the Fed to an audit by congressional investigators.
Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top-ranking Republican on the committee, was among the seven senators voting no.
“Our trust and confidence were misplaced,” Shelby said of Bernanke’s leadership.
The others were: Republicans Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, David Vitter of Louisiana, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Mike Crapo of Idaho. The sole dissenting Democrat was Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent liberal from Vermont, wants to block the nomination on the Senate floor. He has placed a “hold” on the nomination, meaning it will require a super-majority of 60 votes to confirm Bernanke.
Bernanke’s term ends on Jan. 31 and unless Sanders relents a full Senate vote on his nomination is not expected until next month.
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
PLAN: Nations would receive US$5m a year if they could advance Taiwan’s international participation, diversify supply chains away from China or counter Beijing’s influence The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill that would approve US$120 million to be spent on supporting Taiwan’s international space and tackling coercion by China. The bipartisan legislation — the Taiwan Allies Fund Act — was proposed ahead of the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20. The committee said in a statement that the bill “strengthens Taiwan’s global network of friends by authorizing [US]$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID [US Agency
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: The government needs to convey regulations to advertising platforms based overseas and access to the offenders could be restricted, Minister said The government is considering asking TikTok and other large digital advertising platforms to have agents based in Taiwan in accordance with the draft act on the prevention and control of fraud and crime, which is scheduled to be reviewed at an Executive Yuan meeting today, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The draft act is one of the legislative measures being introduced by the government to tackle scams, including the draft technology investigation and security act, and amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法). They are also to be reviewed