David Vitter Holding Up Obama Fed Nominees

      Often Sumner criticizes Obama for not doing more to push through his Fed nominees-it's still 2 board members short and hasn't been totally filled since 2006.

       For the most part of course I'm a partisan Obama Democrat who doesn't trust Obama bashing. However it does seem a fair point that Obama could push his nominees via a recess appointment and I don't see the reasons for not doing this very compelling. True, when he did this to fill the new Consumer  Financial Protection Agency the GOP threatened a lawsuit.

      As far as the Senate however it's being held up in committee by Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana. Interestingly the banks want Obama's two nominees to go through and representatives of both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have urged Vitter to stop holding it up-to no avail.

      "Sen. David Vitter (R., La.) has effectively blocked Senate confirmation of the nominees, Harvard University economics professor Jeremy Stein and former private-equity executive Jerome Powell. Wall Street firms have been quietly pressing Mr. Vitter to drop his objections, an aide to the senator said."

     "Senate leaders aren't expected to bring the nominees to the floor for debate, a potentially lengthy process unlikely to be welcomed by either party in an election year. The Senate generally confirms nominees through the faster process of unanimous consent. Unless Mr. Vitter changes his mind, the two Fed nominations are unlikely to advance."


     http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070304577394213379596058.html

     "The topic came up when the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a trade organization for the financial-services industry, met with Mr. Vitter two weeks ago, a Sifma spokesman said. The group urged Mr. Vitter to support the nominees to fill the seven-member Fed board's two vacancies, an aide to the senator said. "

     "Representatives of Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan also expressed their support for the nominees in phone calls with Mr. Vitter's staff, largely because they think the board should be working at full capacity."

        However this bank pressure has not moved Vitter:

        "Mr. Vitter was unmoved. "Nothing is more telling to me than seeing the megabanks coming to the defense of these nominees, but I will continue my opposition," he said in a statement, citing his "serious concerns with the Fed's activist, easy-money policies."

        Why is it again that Vitter is even still in politics while Anthony Weiner is gone?