WASHINGTON: The Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday approved President Joe Biden’s renomination of Jerome Powell to head the US Federal Reserve, as well as Lael Brainard as vice chair and two new central bank governors.
The nominations now head to the full Senate for votes on their confirmation.
Biden in November chose to keep Powell in the Fed’s top job for a second four-year term, and to name Brainard, the institution’s only Democratic governor, as his deputy.
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The committee voted 23-1 to confirm Powell, and 16-8 to advance the Brainard nomination.
Of the three remaining vacancies, the committee also voted to advance the nominations of two Biden picks: Philip Jefferson, an African-American economic professor, and Lisa Cook, who would become the first Black woman in the position if she is confirmed.
Jefferson sailed through with unanimous support, while the Cook vote was tied, although her nomination still goes to the Senate floor.
The session came one day after Biden’s nominee for the role of the Fed’s top banking cop, Sarah Bloom Raskin, withdrew her name from consideration.
Raskin, who once enjoyed bipartisan backing in previous jobs at the Fed and the Treasury Department, faced opposition from Republicans and at least one Democrat for her position on climate change.
The White House must now propose a new nominee.
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