Automation to Be Focus as Rockwell Spins Off Avionics

The Senate passed a bill that gives Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan an 11% raise. The Fed measure was included in the American Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act, which among other things boosts Greenspan’s pay to about $157,000 a year--up from $141,300--to put the Fed chief’s pay on par with those of U.S. Cabinet members. The bill, which passed by voice vote, also fattens the paychecks of the seven Fed governors, who also vote on U.S. interest rates, from $132,000 to $141,300 a year. Greenspan, who is a multimillionaire after heading an economic consulting firm on Wall Street, has said that although he does not need the money, higher paychecks for others at the Fed would help the central bank hire and retain employees. The bill also includes language that amounts to a renewal of the 1978 Humphrey-Hawkins Act, which made the Fed formally accountable to Congress. President Clinton is expected to sign the bill.