Bush extends Greenspan's power in delicate pre-election period

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2004

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush renominated Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chairman, extending his rule even as interest rates appeared sure to rise in an election year.

Greenspan accepted.

"Alan Greenspan has done a superb job as chairman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve system, and I have great continuing confidence in his economic stewardship," Bush said in a statement.

"Sound fiscal and monetary policies have helped unleash the potential of American workers and entrepreneurs, and America's economy is now growing at the fastest rate in two decades," he said.

Bush met with the central bank chief, whose new term would last not more than four years, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who read out the US...