Republicans take advantage of absences to block Fed nominee Lisa Cook
Senate Republicans took advantage of the absence of some Democrats due to COVID-19 on Tuesday to block the nomination of the first black woman to the Federal Reserve.
Chairman Joe Binden has named Michigan State University economist Lisa Cook to the seven-member Fed Board of Governors.
Tuesday’s vote on ending the debate on his nomination failed, 47 to 51.
Democrats didn’t have enough votes to stop the debate over Cook’s nomination because the senses. Delaware’s Christopher Murphy and Oregon’s Ron Wyden have tested positive for COVID-19 and are out.
Vice President Kamala Harris also has COVID-19 and would not be able to break a likely Senate tie if all lawmakers on both sides were available to vote.
In a parliamentary maneuver, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer voted no, allowing him to seek another vote on Cook’s nomination once the absentee Democrats returned.
Senate Republicans declined an effort by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to delay the Cook vote.
Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the banking committee, said he opposed Cook because he said she would “politicize” the Fed.
Republicans still seem worried about the defeat of two of President Donald Trump’s Fed nominees – maverick economist Judy Shelton and Republican political operative Steven Moore. Toomey said Shelton’s nomination only fell through because of an ailing GOP lawmaker.
Cook’s appointment has struggled from the start. She could not be approved by the Senate Banking Committee because she had no support from Republican members. This meant that the full Senate had to vote to allow his nomination to move forward. She passed that hurdle by a close vote of 50 to 49.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Senate confirmed that incumbent Fed Governor Lael Brainard would be Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s first deputy at the central bank.
Powell was nominated by Biden for a second four-year term, and his final approval vote in the Senate is expected soon.
The Senate is also expected to hold a final vote on the nomination of Davidson College economist Philip Jefferson to the Fed’s board. That would mean Biden would have selected four of the seven seats on the board of governors.
While economists generally believe the Fed is likely to stick to its plans to raise its benchmark rate above 2% from the current range of 0.25% to 0.5% in By the end of the year, some think Cook and Jefferson could support a pause in rate hikes in the fall to see how the economy fares with less accommodative monetary policy.