Senate advances Brainard to final confirmation vote

The Senate on Monday advanced President Biden’s nominee to serve as the Federal Reserve Board’s number two, teeing her up for final confirmation votes as soon as this week.

Senators voted 54-40 to end debate on Lael Brainard’s nomination to be Fed vice chair, with several Republicans crossing party lines to support her nomination. 

Brainard, a Democrat, has served on the Fed board since 2014 after a stint with the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. Biden nominated her to serve as the Fed’s number two in November, defying pressure from progressives to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell with Brainard.

If confirmed, Brainard would be just the second woman to serve as Fed vice chair since the modern central bank was established in 1914. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was the first woman to serve as Fed vice chair, the first woman to serve as Fed chief and the first woman to lead Treasury.

The Senate appears to be on track to confirm Brainard and four of Biden’s five nominees to the Fed as soon as the end of the week. Along with Brainard, the Senate is expected to confirm Powell for another term as Fed chair and Davidson College professor Philip Jefferson to serve as a Fed governor.

Lisa Cook, an economics professor at Michigan State University and a former member of the Obama White House Council of Economic Advisors, has received resounding support from Democratic lawmakers and academic economists. But Republican lawmakers have unanimously opposed her nomination to be a member of the Fed board, arguing her research and advocacy are out of line with the Fed’s mandate.

Senators also voted 50-49 last week to advance Cook’s nomination to the full chamber after the Senate Banking Committee deadlocked on whether to support her confirmation. While a nominee must usually be approved by a Senate committee before a confirmation vote, Senate Democrats and Republicans struck a deal to allow either party leader to bring up nominees for votes in the Senate even if the committee deadlocks.

If all Republicans attend Cook’s final confirmation vote and unite against her, she will need the unanimous support of all Senate Democrats and a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Harris to join the central bank.

Biden also nominated Michael Barr, a former Obama administration financial regulatory official, to serve as Fed vice chair of supervision last week. The president tapped Barr after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and several Republican moderates opposed his original choice, former Fed Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin, blocking her path to confirmation.