Sarah Bloom Raskin Emerges as a Top Contender for Fed Regulator Post

(Bloomberg) -- Former Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin is a leading contender to be President Joe Biden's pick for the top regulatory post at the Fed, according to two people familiar with the matter, a move that would please senators demanding swift action on climate change.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who has been active on the climate issue, tweeted that a Raskin nomination as the Fed's vice chair for supervision would be “good news.”

The Rhode Island Democrat said Raskin “really gets it on climate. When that bubble bursts, it's going to be hell. We have to prepare, and she will try.”

Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown said he expects the White House to announce the pick in “the next couple of days.” 

He called Raskin “terrific” on regulation and on climate change. “She also will be, I assume, will be good on monetary policy too,” the Ohio Democrat added. 

Raskin is similarly a popular choice for some key White House aides, who have been eager for the last year to see her in a strong role, according to one of the people, who like the other person asked not to be named because the deliberations are private. 

Axios reported earlier that Raskin is the leading candidate for the post.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to comment on the status of Biden's Fed nominations.

Senator Ben Cardin predicted Raskin would be easily confirmed.

“I've worked with her for many years. She's an extremely talented person, very much public service minded. So I think she can handle many of those positions extremely well,” the Maryland Democrat said in a hallway interview at the Capitol.

But a confirmation, like every other nomination in the evenly divided U.S. Senate, will hinge on whether she can win over every Democrat, including fossil fuel supporter Joe Manchin of West Virginia, or some Republicans.

In a September op-ed titled “Changing the Climate of Financial Regulation,” she urged U.S. financial regulators to think creatively about how to head off climate-related financial risks, and she praised other nations' central banks for already acting “to repurpose instruments like stress tests, living wills, and risk-based capital standards – all within their existing mandates.”

Senator Jon Tester of Montana, a moderate Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said his staff is preparing a memo for him on Raskin, but said he hasn't yet seen any red flags. 

“My staff is getting together a fact sheet on it, so I can take a look at it, but I don't have anything right now that would indicate that she wouldn't be easily confirmed,” he said.

Bloom Raskin, a Duke University professor and former Treasury official, is the wife of Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

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