Raskin’s Fed Nomination Likely Doomed by Manchin Opposition (1)

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he won’t back President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Federal Reserve vice chair of supervision, Sarah Bloom Raskin -- likely dooming her confirmation in the Senate given broad Republican opposition.

“I have carefully reviewed Sarah Bloom Raskin’s qualifications and previous public statements,” Manchin said in a statement Monday. “I have come to the conclusion that I am unable to support her nomination to serve as a member of the Federal Reserve Board.”

Manchin, who represents coal-rich West Virginia and supports an expansion of oil and gas drilling, joined Republicans in opposing Raskin over her stance on climate change. Raskin, 60, has written in the past in support of the Fed increasing its attention to financial risks from climate change, but said in her confirmation hearing the central bank had no place in mandating how capital should be allocated among industries.

Sarah Bloom Raskin

Photographer: Ken Cedeno/Reuters/Bloomberg

“Her previous public statements have failed to satisfactorily address my concerns about the critical importance of financing an all-of-the-above energy policy to meet our nation’s critical energy needs,” Manchin said.

The White House indicated they are not abandoning Raskin’s nomination.

Raskin “is one of the most qualified people to have ever been nominated for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,” Chris Meagher, a White House spokesman, said in a statement. “We are working to line up the bipartisan support that she deserves, so that she can be confirmed by the Senate for this important position.”

But a Republican vote for Raskin in the 50-50 Senate will be hard to find.

Moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who is often a target for Democrats seeking a GOP vote, said she spoke with Raskin Monday by telephone but there remain “unanswered questions.”

“I think that Senator Manchin said it well this morning that he did not believe there was a path forward for the nominee and I would agree with that,” Collins said.

Senator Pat Toomey, the top Republican on the Banking Committee, said Monday on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power with David Westin,” that he is “not aware of any Republican support” for Raskin.

Asked whether whether Manchin’s opposition means the nomination is blocked, Toomey said, “It probably does as a practical matter.”

Toomey has led GOP members of the Banking panel in boycotting a vote to advance Raskin’s nomination to the Senate floor. They say she had failed to fully answer queries about her involvement in fintech company Reserve Trust getting Fed approval for a valuable master account while she was a director at the firm.

WATCH: Sen. Pat Toomey says Manchin’s opposition to Fed nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin dooms the nomination as a “practical matter.”

Source: Bloomberg

The Democratic chair of the Banking Committee, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, has refused to hold separate votes on President Joe Biden’s other nominations -- Jerome Powell to serve a second term as chair of the Fed, Governor Lael Brainard as vice chair and economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson as governors. That has entangled them in the blockade of Raskin.

Brown said he is still working to get Raskin’s nomination through the evenly divided committee and keep pressing for votes on all the nominees.

Meagher said the opposition to Raskin is a “baseless campaign led by oil and gas companies that sought to tarnish her distinguished career.”

But Toomey and other Republicans contend Raskin’s push for climate-related regulations is an abuse of regulators’ authorities and a radical change in the Fed’s mission.

“Those decisions need to be made in the most transparent and open process by people who are accountable to the American people,” he said. “That is not the role of the Fed.”

(Updates with Collins opposing Raskin in seventh paragraph)

--With assistance from David Westin and Laura Litvan.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net

Megan Scully

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