WASHINGTON — Senator Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) said Monday that he was “unable” support President Joe Biden’s nomination Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Federal Reserve Board.
Although Manchin isn’t a member the Senate Banking Committee that considers the Federal Reserve nominees he is an important vote in the evenly divided Senate.
He said that he had carefully reviewed Sarah Bloom Raskin’s qualifications and public statements in the past. “I have been concerned by her previous public statements that she has not adequately addressed my concerns about how important it is to finance an all-of the-above energy program to meet our nation’s critical energy needs. I have concluded that I cannot support her nomination as a Federal Reserve Board member.
The Banking Committee has been stuck for weeks over the nominations of five nominees. This includes Jerome Powell’s second term as Fed Chairman. The ranking member of the committee, Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania, has boycotted the planned votes on the nominees last Month to prevent them being considered due to Bloom Raskin’s nominating.
Republicans claim she has not provided complete answers as to whether she used her contacts at the Treasury Department and the Fed during her time in high-ranking positions during the Obama administration to help Reserve Trust, a private Colorado payment firm.
Reserve Trust’s board was represented by Raskin in 2017, when the Kansas City Fed refused the company access to its payments systems. Reserve Trust was granted access the next year.
Another point of contention is Raskin’s progressive leanings in regard to climate change.
A spokesperson for the Banking Committee stated that Sen. Sherrod brown, D-Ohio is its chairman and working with bipartisan support to make her nomination.
White House officials called Raskin “one the most qualified persons to have been nominated” for the Federal Reserve Board.
The official stated that she had previously served on the Board as well as being second-in command at Treasury. Both positions were where she was confirmed bipartisanally by the Senate. “She has won widespread support despite an unprecedented, baseless campaign by oil and gas corporations that tried to ruin her distinguished career. We are working to get the bipartisan support she needs so she can be confirmed in the Senate for this crucial position.