WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of two nominees to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
By a vote of 21-0, the nominations of Mark Olson and Susan Bies were approved and sent to the full Senate.
Committee Chairman Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., said he hoped the full Senate would approve Olson and Bies by the time they adjourned in December.
Olson, 58, was president of Security State Bank in Fergus Falls, Minn., from 1976 to 1988 and president of the American Bankers Association from 1986 to 1987. If confirmed, he would replace Alice Rivlin, who resigned in July 1999, and would serve until 2010.
Bies, 54, was executive vice president in charge of risk management with Memphis-based First Tennessee National Corp. She also worked as bank economist at the Fed's St. Louis regional bank from 1970 to 1972.
If confirmed, Bies would serve until 2012, filling a vacancy left by Susan Phillips, who resigned in June 1998.
President Bush nominated Bies and Olson in August. If approved by the committee, the nominations would go to a vote before the full Senate.
If confirmed by the full Senate, Olson and Bies would become members of the Fed's policy-setting Open Market Committee. The Federal Reserve's next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 11.
