Incoming House Banking Chairman Praises Fed: Leach Supports the ...
Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), the incoming House Banking Committee chairman, praised the Federal Reserve's monetary policies yesterday and said he hopes to ÛÏkeep a very powerful roleÛ for the agency in regulating tanks.</br></br>LeachÛªs comments are in stark contrast to steady criticisms leveled at the Fed by the current committee chairman, Henry B. Gonzalez (D-Tex.). Gonzalez has been sharply critical of the FedÛªs interest rate increases this year and has pressed it to be more open about its policy deliberations.</br></br>ÛÏI think the Fed is moving in the right direction" on interest rates, Leach told reporters yesterday after speaking to an investors' conference.</br></br>In his speech. Leach also praised the Fed in its role as bank regulator. ÛÏ1 have a very strong personal desire to keep politics out of bank supervision," Leach said, ÛÏand the Fed of all institutions in American politics is above politics. ... It is the place</br></br>Last year, the Clinton administration proposed consolidating federal banking regulators in a single agen-