WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed economist Lisa Cook on Tuesday evening to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, making her the first Black woman to take a seat on the panel in its 108-year historical past.
Cook was confirmed in a 51-50 party-line vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.
She will be part of the Fed at a difficult time for the central financial institution as it makes an attempt to rein in inflation. Last week, the Fed raised its core rate of interest as it battles inflation ranges that are actually at 40-year highs.
“As President Biden said today, addressing inflation remains a top priority of the Biden-Harris Administration, as we work to lower costs for hardworking families,” a White House official mentioned in an announcement after the Senate vote. “It is important to have a fully-staffed Federal Reserve who can take on these challenges for the American people.”
The board performs a key position in setting the central financial institution’s financial coverage.
An economics and worldwide relations professor at Michigan State University, Cook was elected earlier this 12 months to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s board of administrators. She beforehand served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers below former President Barack Obama and was a member of the Biden transition group.
Her analysis pursuits embody financial improvement, innovation, monetary establishments and markets and financial historical past, and he or she has written on how Jim Crow legal guidelines impacted long-term progress of the U.S. economic system.
In a November 2020 article revealed by The New York Times, Cook wrote about how “discrimination inflicts a staggering cost on the entire economy,” citing analysis that confirmed the far-reaching financial prices of racism.
Her Senate affirmation comes after President Joe Biden had the weird alternative to appoint three members to the Fed board after there was an unfilled emptiness leftover from the Trump administration.
When Biden introduced his nominees earlier this 12 months, he mentioned they’d “bring much needed expertise, judgement and leadership to the Federal Reserve while at the same time bringing diversity of thought and perspective never seen before on the Board of Governors.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., described Cook as “eminently qualified for the position” shortly earlier than Tuesday’s vote.
“She’s a great Georgian. She comes from a family chock-full of achievers and she’s going to do a great job,” he instructed NBC News.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., insisted Cook had a “glaring” lack of financial coverage expertise and a historical past of “extreme” left-wing political advocacy and “hostility” towards opposing viewpoints.
“Since we know very little about her views on inflation, my grave concern is that Professor Cook will serve as an inflation dove on the Fed at a time when American families continue to be ravaged by these price increases,” Toomey mentioned on the Senate flooring earlier than the vote.
Republicans are targeted on making inflation a prime marketing campaign concern heading into the November midterm elections, once they’re hoping to retake each the House and the Senate.
Biden has different Fed nominees awaiting affirmation votes. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, instructed reporters Tuesday he expects Fed Chairman Jerome Powell — who was nominated in January for a second time period — and Philip Jefferson, who would grow to be the fourth Black man to serve on the board, will likely be confirmed this week.
Those affirmation votes haven’t been scheduled but.
Scott Wong contributed.