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WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (AFP): Ben Bernanke, President George W Bush's pick to succeed the all-powerful Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chairman, will appear before US senators Tuesday for a crucial confirmation hearing.
Bernanke will need to be confirmed by the Senate banking committee, and then by the full Senate, before he can succeed the 79-year-old Greenspan, who is retiring on January 31 after 18 years at the helm of the US central bank.
Bush nominated Bernanke, 51, for the position on October 24 and unlike the president's nominees for the US Supreme Court, the former Princeton University economist is expected to sail through the confirmation process.
That said, Democrats are keen to probe the support Bernanke has expressed for contentious White House economic policies such as multi-billion-dollar tax cuts in his current guise as head of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.
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