Manchin opposes Raskin for Fed vice chair, imperiling confirmation

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia will oppose the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the Federal Reserve’s next vice chair for supervision.

Manchin, the centrist Democrat who serves as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said in a statement on Monday he would not support Raskin’s nomination to the Federal Reserve in light of her prior public statements on the role of climate risk in financial regulation.

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Raskin’s “previous public statements have failed to satisfactorily address my concerns about the critical importance of financing an ‘all-of-the-above energy policy to meet our nation’s critical energy needs,” Manchin said in the statement.

Raskin, one of Washington’s best-known financial policy experts, criticized Fed decisions to allow oil and gas firms to access emergency liquidity facilities in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s also urged federal bank regulators to better prepare for climate-related risks to the financial system.

Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee have boycotted the slate of Federal Reserve nominees put forward by the White House since mid-February by denying Democrats the quorum they need to push the candidates toward a floor vote. Republican opposition has centered on Raskin, largely because of her views on climate risk.

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Manchin’s opposition is a serious blow to Raskin’s nomination in a Senate split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, though it remains to be seen whether she could receive any votes from Senate Republicans. Raskin has been confirmed unanimously by the Senate twice, once in 2010 to serve on the Federal Reserve board, and again in 2014 to serve as a senior Treasury official.
A spokesperson for Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and chair of the Senate Banking Committee, said the senior lawmaker was “working to move forward Ms. Bloom Raskin’s nomination with bipartisan support, as Ms. Bloom Raskin has earned twice before.”

While Raskin remains widely respected by the financial services industry, the energy sector and its advocates have sought to paint the former Obama-era official as a climate radical who could use her Senate-confirmed job to starve the oil and gas industry of credit access — a charge Raskin and her backers have roundly denied.

Raskin is the Biden administration’s second nominee for a key financial regulatory post that Manchin has opposed; Saule Omarova, a professor of law at Cornell University, backed out of the confirmation process to become the next comptroller of the currency after Manchin and other centrist Democrats expressed doubts about her candidacy.

Manchin’s statement on Monday said that the Federal Reserve must steer clear of “partisanship” as historically high inflation persists in the U.S. and globally.

“The time has come for the Federal Reserve Board to return to its defining principles and dual mandate of controlling inflation by ensuring stable prices and maximum employment,” Manchin said. “I will not support any future nominee that does not respect these critical priorities.”