U.S. Chamber urges lawmakers to closely question Fed nominee

In a first, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote to lawmakers Thursday expressing concern about a president’s nominee to the Federal Reserve Board, Reuters reported.

In its letter to leaders of the Senate Banking Committee, the business lobby highlighted Sarah Bloom Raskin’s statements on fossil fuels, including her call for federal regulators to limit financing of the industry. She is President Joe Biden’s nominee as the board’s vice chair for supervision. The Chamber urged committee members to question Raskin about her statements and also her criticism of the Fed for allowing oil and gas companies to access emergency pandemic funds, among other issues.

Tom Quaadman, executive vice president of the Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, said the trade group had never before sent a public letter questioning a Fed nominee. However, he said the Chamber is not opposing the nomination for now.

“If you have someone who is coming up for the lead position on safety and soundness regulations, and they actually want to cut off an industry from the banking system, that starts to raise questions,” he told Reuters.

Quaadman said Raskin’s views would have “ramifications” for the U.S. and global economy, and the Chamber wanted to be sure that her policies were based on “solid data and input and not political ideology.”

He said the Chamber, whose board includes big oil companies, would raise similar questions if a Republican nominee suggested excluding renewable energy companies from public funds.

But a senior administration official told Reuters that Raskin is “firmly opposed to the Federal Reserve allocating credit by sector or choking off sectors from access to credit. She supports the existing policy framework on climate risks that has been articulated by (Fed Chairman Jerome) Powell and (current Fed vice chair for supervision Randal) Quarles.”

The banking committee, which must approve the Fed nominees before they are considered by the full Senate, will scheduled a confirmation hearing for Raskin and two economists nominated for the board, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson, on Feb. 3.

The American Bankers Association on Jan. 14 congratulated Raskin, Cook and Jefferson on the nominations, saying they would bring “a wide range of economic, regulatory and academic experience” to the job.