Fed nominees draw heavy criticism from top Republican senator

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Jan 25 (Reuters) – Signaling that U.S. President Joe Biden’s picks for the Federal Reserve could face a difficult confirmation process in the tightly divided Senate, Republican Senator Pat Toomey told the president he does not believe his choices fairly represented the nation for which they would make it. help set monetary policy.

“I am writing to express my concerns about the significant lack of geographic diversity and professional experience in your recent slate of candidates to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,” said Toomey, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on banks. Biden in a letter Tuesday and made public by his office.

Biden earlier this month named former Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin as the central bank’s vice president for oversight and two black economists, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson, to serve on his board of directors. governors. Those choices would help make the Fed’s seven-member board the most diverse it’s ever been, by race and gender.

Late last year, Biden reappointed Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and selected current Governor Lael Brainard to be Fed Vice Chairman, both of whom had confirmation hearings earlier this month- this.

All of the nominees except Cook from Michigan State University are from the Fed District of Richmond, one of 12 Fed regions across the country, Toomey said in the letter.

Toomey reserved his strongest comments for Raskin, saying she had “demonstrated hostility” to the oil and gas sector, making it “unacceptable”.

The Banking Committee must approve Fed nominees before they are considered by the full Senate.

Senators’ objections to the lack of geographic diversity sank at least one Fed nominee, Nobel laureate Peter Diamond, in 2011.

Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Richard Chang and Andrea Ricci

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