Rep. Barney Frank: President Should Appoint Fed Leaders

The top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee is pushing to give the president the authority to choose Fed leaders, while at the same time limiting the voting rights of those regional Fed presidents on central bank interest rate decisions.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., told Bloomberg TV’s Lisa Murphy that “Giving non-elected officials picked by non-elected people, private citizens, who come from the financial community, the right to vote on an important national policy is inconsistent with democracy.”

The bill submitted by the congressman Tuesday authorizes the president to appoint four Federal Reserve presidents, in addition to the Federal Reserve chairman, to ensure you have “geographic diversity.”

“[I]n a recent couple of months, it’s become clear there’s a real split between the Federal Reserve regional presidents who represent the financial community and those people appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, led by Ben Bernanke,” Frank explained. “And the presidents have on the whole been opposed to the efforts that Bernanke has been undertaking to help stimulate the economy.