jerome powell is a visiting scholar at the bipartisan policy center here in washington where he is focused on federal and state issues. he's a former lawyer with experience in investment banking and private equity who will bring valuable and broad private sector examiner t oor expertise. he founded and led the industrial group within the u.s. buy out fund so he has broad experience in the private sector and with manufacturing companies and other industries that are at the heart of our economy. he served on boards of several charitable and educational institutions, currently a member of the board of directors of d.c. prep, the ben time center for finance at princeton and the nature conservancy. so there is no requirement that the president nominate governors from the other party but we have in keeping with the work of senator alexander and senator johanns and others, this is a bipartisan nomination. mr. powell is a republican, and he served as undersecretary for the treasury for finance under president george h.w. bush with responsibility for policy on financial institutions, the treasury,

least 70 senators and the nominations of jeremy stein of harvard university, a professor there and jerome powell who served in the george herbert walker bush administration as the under secretary for the treasury department getting the support of the senators and now for the first time since 2006 the fed will have a full complement of governors. the postal service saying it is moving ahead with plans to close dozens of processing center the. earlier this month they had written letters to the postmaster general urging the post office to hold off on closing these facilities but postal officials saying they can't wait any longer, congress remains deadlocked on exactly how to help. and when facebook shares go on the market tomorrow, they will start at $38 a share. washington keeping a close eye on all of this, and jamie dimon of j.p. morgan chase confirming he will testify before the senate banking committee. the date is to be determined. he will talk about the company's $2 billion loss earlier this month and as he announced the loss from that hedge fund investment. let's begin with this story as re

the two men, jerome powell and jeremy stein are nominated to serve on the federal reserve board of governorsre plained his rationale for blocking them this way. i refuse to provide chairman bernanke with two more rubber stamps who approve of the fed's activist policies. this quote is a breathtaking statement for a few reasons. one, vitter is not saying anything about the nominee's qualifications but where their policy preferences might lie. this is all the more remarkable because one economist is a republican. economist justin wolfer commented on twitter, quote, i don't know a single economist left or right who thinks putting a hold on stein and powell is a good idea. i bet you can't find one. he then followed up, quote, literally every republican economist i've talked to thinks stein would make a fantastic fed governor. i agree. the second remarkable thing about vitter's quote, he's accusing bernanke, a registered republican and appointed to the fed by w., himself, of being some kind of wild eyed activist liberal. third, vitter is saying though not quite in these words he opposes any effort

reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 647, jerome powell of maryland, to be a member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination federal reserve system, jerome h. powell of maryland to be a member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk with respect to that nomination. mr. reid: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of jerome h. powell of maryland to be a member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. signed by 18 senators as follows -- mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask consent to waive the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 for both cloture motions. the presiding officer: witho

jerome c. stein of massachusetts to be a member of the board of governors. jeremy h. powell of maryland to be a member of the board of governors. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be 90 minutes of debate in the usual form. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. corker: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee is recognized. mr. corker: i understand we may be in queerk? the presiding officer: that's correct. mr. corker: i ask unanimous consent that that be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. corker: thank you, mr. president. i want to spheerk a moment today about the vote we're going to have at noon on the federal reserve board members that are being nominated. i have met both of these individuals, and i plan to vote for them today at noon. but i want to tell you why i'm going to do that. i am very concerned about the overly acom accommodateive effot the federal reserve. i think these low interest rates over a long period of time will create inflation in our country. i believe the fed h