The New York Times has a good piece on how liberal Democrats rose up to derail the possible nomination of Larry Summers to be chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
“For the White House, that would have left two options, Senate aides said, both unpalatable. The first would have been to lean on the Democratic “no” votes, asking members to agree to pass Mr. Summers out of committee even if they intended to vote against him on the Senate floor. But the White House had not laid the groundwork for such a strategy. Some Democratic offices had not heard from White House representatives about the nomination at all.”
“The second option would have been to barter for Republican votes. Aides described that strategy as possible: many Republicans would have been willing to vote for Mr. Summers, they said, for a price. But handing the Republicans leverage in the midst of the debt ceiling and budget debates would have weakened the White House’s hand.”
Wonk Wire: Janet Yellen is now the front-runner for Fed chief.
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