From the Wall St. Journal blog covering Janet Yellen's report to the Senate today:
It’s time for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), and she’s got lots of concerns.
On a recent leak probe, she wants a response from the Fed. Ms. Yellen did not want to say yes outright — “We are trying to work with your staff on a process to be responsive”—but she eventually did say yes.
Then she moves on to criticism by Fed general counsel Scott Alvarez about Dodd-Frank rules. Sen. Warren wants to know whether the Fed chief agrees. “I personally and the board consider Dodd-Frank to be a very important piece of legislation,” Ms. Yellen begins, before being cut off.
We’ll tell you one thing about Elizabeth Warren: She really knows how to use her time. She’s demanding yes or no answers, and not getting them. Here’s one response from Ms. Yellen: “I think the Fed’s position and my position is that we are able to work very constructively within the framework of Dodd-Frank to tailor rules that are appropriate to the institutions we supervise” and the Fed is not seeking to change Dodd-Frank.
How’s that for an answer? We have a feeling this is not Sen. Warren’s last time taking on the Fed’s bank supervision.
