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The
U.S. industry lobby group urged leaders of the Senate Banking
Committee to question Raskin about those statements and 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, but
noted the group had stopped short of opposing her nomination
outright, at least 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.
White House spokesperson Michael Gwin said Raskin would bring
unprecedented experience to the job and had won the support of
economic experts across the political spectrum.
"Bloom Raskin believes firmly in the independent role of the
Federal Reserve and will work in concert with Chair (Jerome)
Powell and her colleagues to identify and mitigate a range of
risks facing our financial system – including cyber and climate
– within the Federal Reserve’s existing mandate," he said.
Raskin is "firmly opposed to the Federal Reserve allocating
credit by sector or choking off sectors from access to credit,"
a senior administration official told Reuters. "She supports the
existing policy framework on climate risks that has been
articulated by 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.
Senator Pat Toomey, the top Republican on the panel, also took
aim at Raskin this week in a letter to Biden, saying the former
Fed governor was "unacceptable" due to her "demonstrated
hostility" toward the oil and gas sector.
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.
Raskin, who also served as a senior Treasury official under
former President Barack Obama, would replace Randal Quarles who
was appointed the Fed's vice chair for supervision by Republican
former President Donald Trump in 2017, if confirmed.
The bank supervision role is the most consequential of several
vacancies on the Fed's seven-member Board of Governors available
to be filled by Biden.
If confirmed, Raskin would drive policy on issues including
climate change financial risks, community lending rules, and
financial technology companies, and would likely to review
several of Quarles' rule changes which spanned rules on banks'
speculative investments, derivatives trading, liquidity and
capital.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Michael
Perry)
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