Embattled US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will garner enough votes to win US Senate confirmation for a second term despite opposition from key Democrats, US President Barack Obama’s top adviser predicted on Sunday.
“The president is very confident that the chairman will be confirmed,” said adviser David Axelrod, who praised Bernanke’s handling of the recent global economic meltdown.
“Chairman Bernanke offered very strong and steady leadership during this crisis, without which we ... may have slipped into the abyss. And we are still in a fragile state, although the economy is growing,” Axelrod told CNN’s State of the Union TV program.
Several US senators have vowed to filibuster the nomination, which needs 60 votes for approval. Most of the Senate’s 40 Republicans are expected to vote against Bernanke, making it all the more important for Bernanke to sew up the support of Democrats.
However, last week, two senior Senate Democrats — Barbara Boxer and Russell Feingold — announced that they would vote against Bernanke after his first term ends this Sunday, criticizing him for being too closely allied with Wall Street.
Senators, particularly those facing re-election this year, also are concerned about voter anger about the role of the Fed in failing to prevent the deep recession and then in helping to engineer the bailouts of large financial companies.
The growing tide against Bernanke has imperiled the Fed chairman, but a top White House aide on Sunday voiced praise of Bernanke’s stewardship of US monetary policy and said he needs another term as the country’s banker to ensure that a nascent economic recovery continues on track.
“There is a great deal of concern relative to the financial sector. And understand that we need his leadership,” Axelrod said.
The Obama administration has been scrambling to save his beleaguered Fed nominee — first installed by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush in February 2006 — in the face of opposition from members of his own Democratic party.
Senator John McCain — Obama’s Republican rival in the 2008 presidential race — said he was “leaning against” supporting Bernanke, claiming that “his policies were partially responsible for the meltdown that we experienced.”
“Chairman Bernanke was in charge when we hit the iceberg,” McCain told the CBS program Face the Nation.
Another top Republican, Senator John Cornyn, said he was certain he would not vote to approve another term for the Fed chairman.
“I think Ben Bernanke is a brilliant and an honorable man, but one who has presided over what is a crisis of confidence of the American people due to a lack of transparency and accountability with regard to the bailouts and other activities by the Federal Reserve,” he told the Fox News Sunday program.
“So, regretfully, I will vote ‘no’ on his confirmation — I think they need a fresh start,” Cornyn said.
Boxer — on the other end of the political spectrum from the pro-business, conservative McCain and Cornyn — said on Friday that she too objects to Bernanke’s return, but for quite different reasons.
“It is time for Main Street to have a champion at the Fed ... Our next Federal Reserve chairman must represent a clean break from the failed policies of the past,” she said.
Ramped up Democratic opposition to a second term for Bernanke underscores a major populist shift in the political landscape since Republicans won a stunning upset last week in the Massachusetts election for a US Senate seat, ending the 60-seat Democratic supermajority in the chamber.
However, analysts have warned that tossing out Bernanke could trigger renewed turmoil in financial markets, after speculation that his nomination could be rejected contributed to a sharp decline in the stock market last week.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS