Senator Jeff Merkley got a chance to quiz Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Thursday as Bernanke talked to the Senate Banking Committee about money policy.
Merkley was the first Senate Democrat to oppose Bernanke’s continuing in a second term as Fed Chair.
But their interaction Thursday was collegial.
Merkley compared the ways that the US and Canada dealt with banking regulation.
Both men agreed Canada weathered the financial crisis better than the US, having more conservative banking rules.
But Merkley noted that Bernanke did not favor creating a separate agency to take over consumer protection duties.
Jeff Merkley: “What was interesting to me was that he did not point to the huge role that having a consumer financial protection agency played in Canada, in protecting citizens against bad mortgages and bad securities we had here in the United States.”
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