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The Federal Reserve Board nominees

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Yglesias has been pounding this issue for a long time. The Fed has probably more control over the economy than any other body including Congress, yet Obama only got around to nominating people for the three empty seats in April. Apparently Chris Dodd is saying that the Senate might not even get around to voting on these nominations:

I think I’ve shouted myself hoarse about the importance of these nominees already, but just to underscore it the Federal Reserve controls the economy. And it’s “independent.” But like the Supreme Court, the President gets to pick who sits on the Board of Governors. This is an important power. Appointing good people and getting them confirmed is really important.

Meanwhile, on the “limited amount of time” note how insane the Senate is. A sane legislative body could easily vote on three nominees in twenty minutes if it’s in a rush. If the Senate wants to take more time to actually debate, that would be nice too. But these nominees have been on the table since April and nobody seems to have anything to say about them. So just vote!

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