Senate confirm regional Fed heads

WASHINGTON: A leading congressional critic of the Federal Reserve called on Wednesday for regional Fed bank presidents to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

"Since we will have the Federal Reserve for a while, yes, I think they should be confirmed," Ron Paul, who chairs a House of Representatives panel with oversight of the Fed, said in an interview with Reuters Insider."They have a lot of power and authority."

The presidents of the 12 regional Fed banks around the country are chosen by those institutions' boards of directors and are vetted by the Fed board in Washington. Now, only the seven members of the Fed board are subject to Senate confirmation.

Copyright Reuters, 2011