Jim Bunning: “Unfortunately I must rise today to oppose the nomination of Roger Ferguson to be a member of the Board of Governors of…”

“Unfortunately I must rise today to oppose the nomination of Roger Ferguson to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. I usually don't vote against presidential nominees. I believe, in most cases, that we should defer to the president and allow him to appoint his own people. However, there are times when I am forced to stand up and to vote against the president. I do not enjoy doing this, but I have no doubt that I will be making the right vote for Kentucky and the nation. Roger Ferguson is a very accomplished man. He is quite qualified to be a Federal Reserve Governor. He is currently vice chairman. But I cannot, in good conscience, support his nomination for a 14-year term. It is not Dr. Ferguson's qualifications that concern me; it is his judgment that does. Right now we are in an economic slowdown. The evidence was there last September. But Chairman Greenspan and the Federal Reserve did not act in September. They did not act in October. They did not act in November. They did not act in December. They did finally act in January. Since then, the Fed, to its credit, has continued to move the federal funds rate, cutting it 6 times. But the damage has already been done. What concerns me about Dr. Ferguson is the response he gave to me in the Banking Committee when I asked him this question: 'Hindsight being 20/20, do you think the Fed waited too long to reduce the target federal funds rate?' Dr. Ferguson's response was: 'No, sir.'”