Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 24, 1993 TAG: 9312240138
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Rivlin is the second top administration official to decline the post, the first vacancy on the board of the nation's central bank to come open since President Clinton took office.
Earlier, Alan Blinder, a key member of the Council of Economic Advisers, also decided against filling the Fed seat coming open as a result of the departure of Wayne Angell, appointed by former President Reagan.
Angell's term will expire Jan. 31, giving Clinton the opportunity to make the first Democratic appointment to the Fed since Lyle Gramley was named to the central bank's board by President Carter in 1980. All the Fed's current board members are either Reagan or Bush appointees.
"Alice never wanted to be on the Fed," said a senior White House official. "The president would have been delighted to have here there, but she's not interested."
With Rivlin's withdrawal, sources said, White House officials have three candidates under consideration: Peter Kenen, a leading international economist at Princeton; George Perry, a Brookings Institution economist; and Van Dorn Ooms, an economist and director of research at the Committee for Economic Development, a Washington think tank.
The opportunity to put his own person on the board of the Fed comes at critical moment for Clinton. The administration's five-year deficit-reduction plan limits Clinton's flexibility to use budgetary policies to respond quickly to economic problems. That makes the White House far more dependent on low interest rates - and the Fed - to fuel a recovery.
- Los Angeles Times
by CNB