Sarah Bloom Raskin, one of President Joe Biden’s nominees for the Federal Reserve Board, withdrew herself from consideration on Tuesday after key senators, including a Democrat, said they couldn’t back her and left an impossible path to confirm her in a split 50-50 Senate.
Raskin’s nomination, which has been held up in committee along with Biden’s four other Fed nominees, was further imperiled on Monday when Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he couldn’t support her over her energy record. After losing a critical vote, two Republicans seen as possible swing votes – Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – also announced they couldn’t get behind Raskin.
That reality left her short of the 51 votes needed for confirmation before a full Senate – if her nomination even got out of the Senate Banking Committee. Republicans on the panel have held up Biden’s five Fed nominees because of their opposition to Raskin. They blocked a vote to move them all forward last month by boycotting the meeting and preventing a quorum.
The White House announced Tuesday that Raskin, a former Fed governor and Treasury Department official, was taking herself out of the running to be vice chairwoman for supervision. Biden praised her credentials and blamed Republicans for the downfall of her nomination, noting that Raskin previously got bipartisan support in her last two Senate-appointed roles.
“Despite her readiness – and despite having been confirmed by the Senate with broad, bipartisan support twice in the past – Sarah was subject to baseless attacks from industry and conservative interest groups,” Biden said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Senate Republicans are more focused on amplifying these false claims and protecting special interests than taking important steps toward addressing inflation and lowering costs for the American people.”
The withdrawal of her nomination means the freeze on Biden’s other nominees will likely end.
The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, has been open to moving forward on the rest of the nominees without Raskin in the mix, though Democrats were resistant to that approach while she was still in contention. Now that the nomination is pulled, the president is urging the swift confirmation of his Fed nominees.
Biden nominated Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for another term as well as Lael Brainard as vice chairwoman and Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson as Fed governors. The president tapped Raskin, a former member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, in January to serve as vice chairwoman for supervision.
“I urge the Senate Banking Committee to move swiftly to confirm the four eminently qualified nominees for the Board of Governors … who are still waiting for an up-or-down vote,” Biden said. “This group has the experience, judgment, and talent necessary to lead the Federal Reserve at this critical moment in our economic recovery, and the Senate should move their nominations forward.”
Copyright © Times of London © 2021