WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ben Bernanke used his Senate confirmation hearing to address doubts about his abilities to take over as chairman of the Federal Reserve from economic legend Alan Greenspan.
From the reaction of the senators, he succeeded.
For those in financial markets who worried that his previous writings made him sound too dovish about fighting inflation, he pledged that battle would be a top priority.
For those Democrats who fretted that his support of establishing numerical targets for inflation made him too hawkish on inflation, Bernanke promised to follow the central bank's dual mandates of seeking low inflation and high employment.
And for those who believed that his current job as President Bush's chief economist would make him too politically tied to the current administration, he vowed to uphold the Fed's long-standing independence.
"If I am confirmed, I will be strictly independent of all political influences and will be guided solely by the Federal Reserve's mandate from Congress and by the public interest," Bernanke said.
At the end of the three-hour hearing, Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told Bernanke he planned to move the nomination "as soon as possible."
The goal is to get Bernanke confirmed so that he will be ready to step in when Greenspan's 18-year tenure as chairman ends Jan. 31.
Bernanke would take over at the Fed after serving since June as chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. Before that, he had served for three years on the Fed board after a long career as a professor at Princeton specializing in the study of how central banks operate.
Private economists said Bernanke's performance Tuesday confirmed their belief that his selection was the economic equivalent of Bush's pick of the widely respected John Roberts to be chief justice of the Supreme Court.
"He gave a bravura performance. For people who wondered about his political skills, he certainly answered those questions today," said Lyle Gramley, a former Fed board member.
Bernanke walked a fine line during the hearing in not taking positions opposed to current Bush administration policy while sticking by his economic writings, which warned of the problems caused by big budget and trade deficits.
And when Democrats tried to pin him down over whether he would support re-imposing budget rules that would require future tax cuts to be paid for, Bernanke said he did not plan to take positions on specific budget proposals.
That was a change from Greenspan, who has said he supports making Bush's 2001 tax cuts permanent, but only if they are paid for, either by cutting government spending or raising other taxes.
Bernanke continued to endorse setting specific targets for inflation, but he said he would take no "precipitate steps" to put such targets in place.
Greenspan opposes setting specific inflation targets, although the Fed has operated with an informal target of 1 percent to 2 percent on price increases, excluding energy and food, for a number of years.
As he did when Bush selected him Oct. 24, Bernanke told the committee he would "make continuity with the policies and policy strategies of the Greenspan Fed a top priority."
Bernanke was not pressed to specifically discuss what the central bank will do with interest rates, although many private economists believe that the Fed, which has two more meetings under Greenspan, will keep pushing interest rates higher in an effort to make sure the surge in energy prices does not become embedded in higher overall inflation.
Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov
