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Republicans try to block Biden nominee for top Fed watchdog role

Top Republican senators launched an eleven-hour effort to block the confirmation of Sarah Bloom Raskin with top management role at the Federal Reserve by boycotting a vote scheduled for Tuesday.

The Senate banking committee was set to vote on Raskin, a Democrat who previously served as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. She was nominated by President Joe Biden along with four others to take up senior roles at the central bank.

But Republicans, led by Pat Toomey, the highest-ranking Republican on the committee, have raised concerns about Raskin’s earlier claims that regulators should have a larger role to play. in climate risk control.

Raskin was also fired for previously serving as a board member at the Reserve Trust, when the fintech group successfully opened a “master account” with the Fed to give it direct access to the bank’s payments system. central goods.

Republicans have claimed that Raskin, who was a Fed governor before joining the Treasury Department, was not transparent enough about whether she used her government connections to help the company believe Think fintech opens an account or not. She has denied any wrongdoing,

“Important questions about Raskin’s use of ‘revolving doors’ remain unanswered in large part because of her capriciousness,” Toomey said.

Republicans held the vote on Tuesday by refusing to provide the quorum needed to expedite the confirmation process. However, all 12 Democrats on the committee were still convened to publicly express their support in order to expedite the confirmation process.

Fed candidates are traditionally confirmed by the banking committee before the final vote in the Senate.

While Toomey’s efforts have stalled that process, they don’t necessarily spell the end for Raskin, whose nomination could still be taken to the Senate floor by Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat. head of the institute.

When asked about the state of the failure Tuesday afternoon, Schumer told reporters on Capitol Hill: “We hope that the president [Sherrod] Brown and Senator Toomey can solve this problem.”

In a statement released Tuesday, Sherrod Brown, a Democratic Senator from Ohio and chair of the banking committee, criticized Toomey for choosing to “relinquish his obligations to the American people and put our economic recovery at risk.”

Late last year, Biden tapped Jay Powell, acting Fed chairman until confirmed, for a second term and elevated Lael Brainard, a current governor, to vice chairman.

Along with Raskin, he nominated Lisa Cook, a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University, and Philip Jefferson, a professor at Davidson University, to the remaining gubernatorial seats.

Toomey’s tactics threaten not only Raskin’s confirmation, but also that of three other Biden nominees and Powell’s confirmation for a second term.

Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, backed his colleagues on Tuesday, using a speech on the Senate floor to giving a situation with Biden’s Raskin and Cook nominations.

“I urge President Biden to find a better, more mainstream, more bipartisan candidate to serve this important institution,” McConnell said of Raskin.

McConnell said Cook had previously “promoted partisan conspiracy theories” and pointed to a 2020 case in which she allegedly called for another academic to be fired for their objection to bringing down police pedestal.

Bill Hagerty, a Republican senator from Tennessee who sits on the banking committee, also voiced support for Toomey’s actions, saying that “Raskin’s radical stance to cut capital for the oil and gas industry is worthwhile enough. damn, but her lack of transparency requires additional oversight. . . not a vote”.

He said he would vote in favor of Powell, Brainard and Jefferson but said Cook “has not demonstrated to me that she is experienced enough in economic and monetary policy to be appointed to the Fed”.

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