Patterico's Pontifications

3/14/2022

Senate Republicans Likely to Defeat Biden Federal Reserve Nominee

Filed under: General — JVW @ 3:05 pm



[guest post by JVW]

Dominic Pino at NRO reports:

Los Angeles Times congressional reporter Jennifer Haberkorn says that Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) will not support Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Biden’s nominee for the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman of supervision. “Her previous public statements have failed to satisfactorily address my concerns about the critical importance of financing an all-of-the-above energy policy,” Manchin said.

This comes a few days after Manchin said he supports a proposed deal from Senate Banking Committee ranking member Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) in which Republicans would allow four other Biden nominees to clear the committee in exchange for blocking Raskin.

Concerns over Raskin stem from her long record of advocating the usage of financial regulation to enact climate policy. In a January 2021 Financial Times article, she argued that “this is the time for the US to use its financial regulatory apparatus . . . to support and guide the market’s need for a reassessment of asset values.” The reassessment she had in mind involved allowing “US financial agencies to lend the strength of their diverse mandates in solving overlapping economic, health and climate crises.”

This standoff now becomes a game of chicken between Democrats, led by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown of Ohio with the backing of the Biden White House, and Senator Toomey along with, it would appear, unanimous backing of his GOP colleagues (thank God Lisa Murkowski is up for reelection this year). The GOP has offered to approve the remaining four nominees, including Jerome Powell as Fed Chairman, in return for Ms. Raskin being held over for “more questioning” which appears to be Washingtonese for never getting a vote. Thus far Sen. Brown has refused to comply, demanding a vote on the entire slate, but the defection of Sen. Manchin now seems to foreclose any chance of that happening.

In addition to opposing Ms. Raskin’s willingness to use the central banking system to push progressive energy policies — for instance by making it harder for fossil fuel companies to borrow money in emergencies — Republicans also point to her past lobbying of the Fed on behalf of a company on whose board she sat and the failure of her husband, Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, to accurately report the couple’s stock holdings in his mandatory financial disclosures. With the Biden Administration being desperate to combat inflation, or at least appear to the American public that they are trying to do so, it will be interesting to see how quick they are to cut Ms. Raskin loose in order to move forward.

But bravo to Sen. Toomey and the Senate GOP for reminding Democrats that in a 50-50 Senate the Biden Administration is not going to get its way 100% of the time.

– JVW

9 Responses to “Senate Republicans Likely to Defeat Biden Federal Reserve Nominee”

  1. Jamie and Sarah Raskin, you might recall, sadly had to deal with the suicide of their young son, a student at Harvard Law who had a history of depression, in January 2021. Not to suggest that this should influence the vote on Ms. Raskin’s nomination in any way, just to note that they have dealt with an unimaginable family tragedy and are deserving of personal compassion in that regard.

    JVW (ee64e4)

  2. Note that the press has this as “the GOP Senators are holding up a vote on the other nominees” when in fact it is Sherrod Brown demanding a vote on the slate, up or down.

    Kevin M (38e250)

  3. And again the netroots are demanding that the Democrats kick Manchin out. From their mouths to God’s ear….

    Kevin M (38e250)

  4. She’s a radical leftist that wants to use monetary power to force the watermelon agenda (Green on the outside and red on the inside. )

    NJRob (e6e822)

  5. Another Saule Omarova, eh? And the massive Ponzi scheme which is Wall Street will not care as long as it produces more paper billionaires by making today’s dollar buy half of what it bought yesterday. Only the people at the grocery store and gas station will.

    nk (1d9030)

  6. Good. I’m tired of these climate warriors. It’s become a secular religion.

    The climate is always changing. Britain was warmer 2,000 years ago than it is today. Doesn’t mean humans did it.

    Ah, but science, you say. You mean the same science that told us margarine was healthier than butter, and to avoid eggs? And that MTBE gasoline was better for the environment?

    Scientists are mere people, and they are subject to the same temptations as the rest of us. They will beat certain drums to get more funding, and they will ostracize other scientists who veer from the script.

    As Kevin put it, the AGW theory is not testable in a controlled environment.

    Biden needs to encourage more drilling. Then we can all give Putin the double-bird.

    norcal (a4a1aa)

  7. As Kevin put it, the AGW theory is not testable in a controlled environment.

    Did I? Well, lots of things aren’t testable in that way. I’m not a fan of the AGW cult, mainly because it isn’t Science, it’s politics. That does not mean I think we should go spewing CO2 into the atmosphere well past all known historical concentrations, or even that there is nothing to their argument. What I object to is the dogma and the instance that I accept it. That’s not science, that’s jihad.

    Kevin M (38e250)

  8. That’s not science, that’s jihad.

    Kevin M (38e250) — 3/14/2022 @ 10:20 pm

    Like I said, it’s a religion for some. I believe humans crave meaning in their lives. If they don’t get it through traditional religion, they find a substitute.

    norcal (a4a1aa)


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