Bush says will no longer comment on Fed

The thinking is that presidents have no place trying to talk the Fed into cutting or raising rates and that to do so can prove counter-productive. As president, Bill Clinton had religiously toed the line against commenting on Fed actions. As Bush was speaking, policymakers on the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee were meeting behind closed doors to discuss the U.S. interest rate outlook. A decision on rates is expected to be announced on Jan 31.

Asked about what Greenspan should do, Bush said: "Mr. Greenspan needs to make his decision independent of what I think." "I learned a pretty good lesson during the transition, and that is I commented out loud about one of the actions he took. That's the last time I'm going to comment about the actions Mr. Greenspan takes. He's an independent voice, and needs to be an independent voice," Bush said.