Bob CorkerU.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., suggested today that America’s central bank needs to get on a healthier, less fattening diet to help put the U.S. economy on a more sustainable path as a new Federal Reserve chairman takes office in 2014.
In an interview with CNBC, Corker said he is likely to oppose the nomination of Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen to become Fed chairman. But the Chattanooga Republican still expects she will still likely be confirmed by the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate as the first woman chairman of the U.S. central bank.
Corker, a member of the Senate Banking Committee who opposed Yellen’s nomination to the Federal Reserve Bank in 2010, has criticized Yellen for being too dovish in supporting easy monetary policies at the Fed. Corker wants the Fed to end its $85 billion-a-month bond buying program, which he worries is pumping too much money into the economy and risking a resurgence of inflation or an economic bubble.
“I am more of an “eat your vegetables” kind of guy,” Corker said today during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “I’m not a chocolate pie kind of guy and that’s where we’ve been with the Fed for a long, long time.”
President Obama is expected today to officially nominate Yellen to replace retiring Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. But her appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.