WASHINGTON ― Sarah Bloom Raskin withdrew her nomination for the Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday after it became clear she didn’t have the votes to be confirmed.
Raskin’s nomination was in jeopardy even before this week due to a GOP boycott in the Senate Banking Committee. Republicans refused to show up to hearings to vote on Raskin’s nomination, as well as two other of President Joe Biden’s picks to the Federal Reserve, because of past statements Raskin made advocating for the Fed to be more proactive in addressing the financial risks posed by climate change.
With no GOP members present, Democrats were unable to advance the nominations under the current rules governing an evenly divided 50-50 Senate.
But the final nail in the coffin for Raskin’s nomination didn’t land until Monday when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced he, too, couldn’t vote for her.
“Her 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.
Raskin was confirmed twice before by the Senate via unanimous support: once to the Federal Reserve Board, which she was nominated for again, and later for deputy treasury secretary.
But that didn’t matter as Republicans lined up against her nomination.
“Despite her readiness — and despite having been confirmed by the Senate with broad, bipartisan support twice in the past — Sarah was subject to baseless attacks from industry and conservative interest groups,” Biden said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Senate Republicans are more focused on amplifying these false claims and protecting special interests than taking important steps toward addressing inflation and lowering costs for the American people.”
“Republicans engaged in a disingenuous smear campaign, distorting Ms. Raskin’s views beyond recognition and made unsubstantiated attacks on her character,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said Tuesday.
The silver lining for the Biden administration may be the fact that their other nominees to the Fed board, who enjoyed bipartisan support but got boycotted along with Raskin, will now likely go on to be confirmed.