President Biden has told key senators he’s made his selections for the three spots on the Federal Reserve Board — Sarah Bloom Raskin as vice chair for supervision, the Fed’s top regulator of the banking system; and Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson as Fed governors, according to a source familiar with the expected nominations. The selections are expected to be announced soon.
The source says the president “has nominated a serious, qualified, nonpartisan group of five nominees for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve who together will bring an extraordinary amount of skill, experience, and competence to the Federal Reserve.”
“They will prioritize the independence of the Federal Reserve and are committed to fighting inflation, maintaining stability in our economy in the midst of the pandemic and making sure our economic growth broadly benefits all workers,” the source said.
Raskin is a former Treasury and Fed official; she’s currently a professor at Duke University, and she is married to Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin, of Maryland. Jefferson is an economist and dean of faculty at Davidson College in North Carolina. Cook once served as an Obama economic adviser and is an economics professor at Michigan State University. Cook would be the first Black woman to serve on the Fed board.
The Federal Reserve is responsible for conducting national monetary policy, maintaining the country’s financial stability, and regulating banks. The Fed also sets the target interest rate and is also charged with promoting maximum employment and stable prices.
The selections are long-awaited, and come as the country deals with the highest inflation rates since the 1980s. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday the Fed will raise interest rates faster than it currently plans if it deems this is necessary to stem the surge in prices.
“If we have to raise interest rates more over time, we will,” Powell said this week during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, which is considering his nomination for a second four-year term as Fed chairman.
