Summers withdraws from consideration as next Fed chairman

Lawrence Summers on Sunday withdrew his name from consideration to succeed Ben Bernanke as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

According to multiple reports, the request was made in a letter to President Obama.

“It has been a privilege to work with you since the beginning of your Administration as you led the nation through a severe recession into a sustained economic recovery,” he writes.

Summers adds that he has “reluctantly” concluded that any confirmation process would be “acrimonious and would not serve the interest of the Federal Reserve, the Administration, or ultimately, the interests of the nation’s ongoing economic recovery.”

In a statement late Sunday, Obama said he spoke with Summers and accepted his decision.

“Larry was a critical member of my team as we faced down the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and it was in no small part because of his expertise, wisdom, and leadership that we wrestled the economy back to growth and made the kind of progress we are seeing today,” Obama said. “I will always be grateful to Larry for his tireless work and service on behalf of his country, and I look forward to continuing to seek his guidance and counsel in the future.”

Last Friday, the White House denied a report claiming Obama had made a decision to nominate Summers. White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage dismissed the story in the Japanese newspaper Nikkei that Obama could pick Summers in the next few days.

The former Treasury secretary’s nomination could have faced resistance in Congress.

Last Thursday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said he would vote against a Summers nomination.

And in a meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in late July, Obama defended Summers against liberal criticism of his handling of Obama’s economic team in the wake of the financial crisis.

A number of liberal lawmakers also have come out in support of Janet Yellen, the vice chairwoman of the Fed’s Board of Governors, who stands to benefit from Summers’s decision.

Summers and Yellen were considered the leading contenders for the job.

“I applaud Larry Summers for withdrawing his name from consideration. The truth is that it was unlikely he would have been confirmed by the Senate,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement on Sunday.

“What the American people want now is a Fed chairman prepared to stand up to the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, not a Wall Street insider whose deregulation efforts helped pave the way for a horrendous financial crisis and the worst economic downturn in the country since the Great Depression. The Fed now must help develop policies which create millions of decent-paying jobs and rebuild the middle class.”

 — This report was originally published at 4:47 p.m. and last updated at 8:00 p.m.