Aug 1 - Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters, joined by 37 of her fellow Democrats, delivered a letter urging President Obama to nominate Janet Yellen, current vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, to replace Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve when his term expires.
The letter notes that Yellen has “demonstrated a unique understanding of the impact of the Federal Reserve’s policies on the middle-class” and that, “during the subprime bubble, at a time when many economists were optimistic about unprecedented growth in the economy, she saw the bubble for what it was and predicted disaster in the banking system.”
Given the continued importance that the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy will have on our nation’s economic recovery, and the increased regulatory responsibility provided to the Federal Reserve under the Wall Street Reform Act, it is crucial to have a thoughtful and deliberate leader succeed Bernanke as chairman of the board. Yellen’s institutional knowledge of the Fed and her working relationships with her colleagues, make her the ideal candidate to fill this position, according to the letter.
Signers of the letter included Representatives Maxine Waters, Diana DeGette, Grace F. Napolitano, Anna G. Eshoo, Betty McCollum, Barbara Lee, Doris O. Matsui, Carol Shea-Porter, Corrine Brown, Donna F. Edwards, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Frederica S. Wilson, Gloria Negrete McLeod, Gwen Moore, Jackie Speier, Janice D. Schakowsky, Joyce Beatty, Judy Chu, Kathy Castor, Linda Sánchez, Lois Frankel, Loretta Sanchez, Lousie McIntosh Slaughter, Marcia L. Fudge, Marcy Kaptur, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Nydia M. Velázquez, Robin Kelly, Rosa L. DeLauro, Sheila Jackson Lee, Susan A. Davis, Tulsi Gabbard, Zoe Lofgren, Yvette D. Clarke, Janice Hahn, Lucille Roybal-Allard and Julia Brownley.