Republican Sen. Toomey Criticizes Biden Fed Nominees’ Lack Of ‘Experience’

The ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee is challenging President Joe Biden’s slate of nominees to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, according to a letter released Tuesday.

“I write to express my concerns with the significant lack of diversity in geography and professional experience in your recent slate of nominees to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,” wrote Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey. The Federal Reserve Act mandates that the president select “not more than one” member from each Federal Reserve district, but four of the recent nominees are all from the Fifth District.

Not mentioned in Toomey’s letter was Lisa Cook, a professor of international relations and economics at Michigan State University, who was also nominated on Jan. 13 to serve on the Fed board. Cook was the subject of a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation on Thursday, which found that her peers view her as unqualified. 

Toomey’s letter went on to accuse one of the nominees, Sarah Bloom Raskin, of being hostile towards the energy sector.

“While a lack of expertise at the Federal Reserve Board in any particular industry is inevitable, the demonstrated hostility of one nominee, Sarah Bloom Raskin, towards a sector that supports employment for millions of Americans, is unacceptable,” Toomey wrote. An article by The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board warned on Jan. 17 that Raskin “wants to politicize Fed bank supervision, especially on climate.”

The White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Saule Omarova withdrew as Biden’s nominee for comptroller of the currency after similar concerns were raised in December when a video was unearthed in which Omarova is heard saying she “wants” U.S. oil and gas companies “to go bankrupt,” among other earlier statements.

The Senate Banking Committee will meet on Feb 3. to conduct a hearing on the nominations for Raskin, Cook and Philip Jefferson.