Biden’s Three Fed Board Nominees All Vow to Tackle Inflation

(Bloomberg) -- All three of President Joe Biden's nominees to join the Federal Reserve said they placed a high priority on tackling U.S. inflation, which is currently running at the hottest pace in almost 40 years.

In prepared remarks released on Wednesday, on the eve of their confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Philip Jefferson, Lisa Cook, and Sarah Bloom Raskin acknowledged the cost that high inflation imposes on American families.

“It is an important task of the Federal Reserve to reduce inflation and one that must be a top priority while we continue to sustain our economic recovery,” Raskin said.

Cook said “our most important task is tackling inflation,” while Jefferson warned that elevated price pressures could “heighten expectations of future inflation” and it was up to the Fed to return it to its goal.

Concern over high inflation has become a politically dangerous for the Biden administration, which has had to fight accusations that its spending policies to help the country weather the pandemic have fanned price increases.

Republicans on the committee, who've stated their concerns about both Raskin and Cook, are likely to quiz the nominees extensively on their commitment to acting aggressively against inflation, even if that hurts employment.

The nominees all require confirmation in the Senate, which Democrats control with the thinnest possible margin of 50 seats plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 8:45 a.m. Washington time.

The U.S. central bank is also facing pressure to get inflation back down to its 2% target after erroneously forecasting that price pressures would ease. Consumer prices rose 5.8% last year by the Fed's preferred measure, the highest since 1982.

Policy makers are trying to patiently remove the massive policy support they enacted to help the economy survive Covid-19. Chair Jerome Powell, who Biden has picked for another four-year term at the helm, said last week that officials have penciled in an interest-rate increase at their March meeting.

The nominees used their opening statements to make plain that they were in line with Powell.

“High inflation is a grave threat to a long, sustained expansion, which we know raises the standard of living for all Americans and leads to broad-based, shared prosperity.,” Cook said. “That is why I am committed to keeping inflation expectations well anchored.”