Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has imperiled and perhaps blocked the Senate confirmation of President Joe Biden’s Fed nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin over worries her opinions on U.S. energy are not conducive to American energy independence.
“Her previous public statements have failed to satisfactorily address my concerns about the critical importance of financing an all-of-the-above energy policy to meet our nation’s critical energy needs,” Manchin’s statement read. “I have come to the conclusion that I am unable to support her nomination to serve as a member of the Federal Reserve Board.”
“The Federal Reserve Board is not an institution that should politicize its critical decisions,” Manchin continued. “At this historic moment for both the United States and the world at large, it is imperative the Federal Reserve Board preserves its independence and steers clear of any hint of partisanship.”
“The Federal Reserve Board must remain hyper focused on ending the inflation taxes hurting working families and getting more workers off the sidelines and back into the economy,” Manchin added.
FLASH: @Sen_JoeManchin opposes Sarah Bloom Raskin Federal Reserve nom, dooming her confirmation pic.twitter.com/Cl8I9UGHpU
— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) March 14, 2022
If Raskin is confirmed by the Senate, she would become the vice chairman for supervision and a member of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve and would have a wide regulatory overview of the financial industry. Raskin must receive a simple majority vote to earn the confirmation. Manchin’s “no” vote means one Republican must vote with 49 other Democrats.
Biden nominated the controversial Raskin to the Fed in January. She is the wife of Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD). But the nepotism has not bothered the White House, which has claimed she is qualified for the position. The couple has allegedly violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act by failing to disclose Mrs. Raskin’s $1.5 million stock payout.
Opposition to Raskin mounted after senators feared she would further increase fossil fuel financing costs. In a New York Times op-ed from 2020, Raskin dubbed the oil industry as “dying” and suggested the Fed should not support oil drilling. At a conference in 2021, Raskin acknowledged her belief that financial regulators should support “a rapid, orderly and just transition away from high emission assets.”
Republicans have roundly opposed Raskin’s Senate confirmation. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) told Breitbart News that Raskin’s partisan energy perspective would kill thousands of oil and natural gas jobs and give Russia more “leverage” over the world.
“How can we hurt our national security and our economy more? We need a clear-minded, nonprofit, nonpartisan monetary policy, not activists carrying out ideological and political agendas,” Cassidy asked.
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