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Obama picks ex-Bush official for Fed

Wednesday 28 December 2011 - by Will.Henley@gfsnews.com

 US President Barack Obama has nominated a former official in President George H W Bush's government as well as a Harvard economics professor to join the board of governors of the Federal Reserve.

The President announced the nominations of Jerome 'Jay' Powell and Jeremy Stein - which still need to be approved by Congress - on Tuesday.

The decision to nominate both a Republican and a Democrat appears aimed at assuaging divisions on Capitol Hill, following previous abortive attempts to recruit for the seven-member central bank board.

Ex-banker Powell, a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, worked as undersecretary of the Treasury for finance during President George H W Bush's term in office in the early 1990s.

Stein, who has taught at Harvard since 2000, was previously president of the American Finance Association and served briefly in Obama's administration between February and July 2009 as an adviser to Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner.

"I am grateful that these individuals have agreed to serve their nation at this important time for our economy," said Obama.


"Their distinguished backgrounds and experience coupled with their impressive knowledge of economic and monetary policy make them tremendously qualified to serve in these important roles."

Earlier this year a bid to have economist Peter Diamond appointed to the central bank board was blocked by Richard Shelby, the most senior Republican member on the Senate banking committee.

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Email: will.henley@gfsnews.com


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