Election-Year Politics Stall Votes on Fed Nominations
President ClintonÛªs nominees to the Federal Reserve BoardÛÓall of whom had appeared to be shoo-ins for Senate confirmationÛÓare now getting tangled in a web of election-year politics.</br></br>Republican senators yesterday for the first time expressed reservations about confirming the nomination of White House budget director Alice M. Rivlin for one of the two open seats on the Fed board. Meanwhile, Senate Democratic leaders said yesterday they still have no deal to move the nominations to a floor vote. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-fowa) and others have held up the nominations because they want a full three-day debate over Fed policy, which they believe is restricting the nation's economic growth.</br></br>Laurence H. Meyer, the St. Louis economist nominated for the other open Fed board seat, has rearranged his financial affairs, including negotiating the sale of his economic forecasting firm, and has expressed his concern about the delay to the White House.</br></br>Administration officials have been unsuccessful so far in getting Congress to set a date for a confirmation vote for either nominee and for the reconfirmation of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.</br></br>RivlinÛªs confirmation was questioned during the Republican senators' weekly luncheon yesterday. The lawmakers are angered over ClintonÛªs latest budget proposal, which asks for increased spending on some politically popular programs this year while proposing steep cuts in the same programs that take effect only after the election.