Senators Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Mike Johanns, a Republican from Nebraska, said they support Summers. “I know Dr. Summers better because I’ve dealt with him over the years,” Wyden said.
“I know Larry. He’s a really good guy, very very smart,” Johanns said. “So I guess what I’d say today without trying to handicap the support is that I’d be open to him.”
Summers, who served as president of Harvard University from 2001-2006, drew fire from women faculty and women’s groups after he said in a 2005 speech that “innate” differences between men and women could partially explain the shortage of elite female scientists.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and former Harvard Law School professor, said Summers and Yellen are both “very smart people.” Asked in Bloomberg TV interview whether Summers could be confirmed, she said: “I don’t know.”
Speculation about Summers for the position has been fueled, in part, by his previous interest in the job, as well as by Obama’s statements indicating that he doesn’t expect Bernanke to remain in the post.
Bernanke has stayed at the Fed “a lot longer than he wanted or he was supposed to,” Obama said in an interview with Charlie Rose broadcast on PBS on June 17. He praised Bernanke for having done an “outstanding job.”