Fed Nominee Raskin Faces Grilling From GOP Lawmakers

It was a tough day for Sarah Bloom Raskin, who has been president’s pick to hold a key post at the Federal Reserve Board.

A former top U.S. Treasury Department official during the Obama administration, Raskin faced a grilling from Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday (Feb. 3).

While the hearing was also held to question nominees Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson, a majority of the peppered questions were directed at Raskin.

The longtime Washington policy advocate, who also teaches law at Duke University, has opposed the fossil fuel industry and has been vocal about the need to combat climate change — positions sure to anger some lawmakers.

While Raskin did her best to distance herself from her writings that placed fossil fuels in an unfavorable light, GOP members of the Senate panel were unconvinced.

“With respect to Ms. Raskin, I have to say this is one of the most remarkable cases of confirmation conversion I have ever seen, although she doesn’t acknowledge the contradiction of what she has said today compared to the things she has been saying and writing for years,” said ranking Republican Sen. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania, according to a CNBC report.

Last month, reports surfaced that President Joe Biden would nominate Raskin for the position.

See also: Biden to Nominate Raskin for Top Fed Banking Regulator Position

Toomey reminded Raskin that she has written opinion pieces that advocated taking capital away from fossil fuels businesses, such as a New York Times piece published in May 2020 titled, “Why Is the Fed Spending So Much Money on a Dying Industry?”

At the time, Raskin recommended the Fed reject any suggestions that it should use its lending powers at the outset of the pandemic to bail out big energy. She wrote, “The decisions the Fed makes on our behalf should build toward a stronger economy with more jobs in innovative industries — not prop up and enrich dying ones.”

The panel is expected to vote on the nominations later this month.