President Biden intends to nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin, Lisa Cook, and Phillip Jefferson to the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, several people with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Biden will tap Raskin as Fed vice chair for supervision, the top regulatory spot, AP reports. A lawyer, Raskin previously served on the Fed board from 2010 to 2014, before leaving to become deputy Treasury secretary. She has been vocal about the Fed's role in curbing climate change; referring to oil and gas, she wrote in The New York Times in 2019 that 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." She is married to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Cook is a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University and former staff economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisers. If confirmed, she would be the first Black woman to serve on the Fed's board. Jefferson is an economist, dean of faculty at Davidson College, and former Fed researcher who focused on poverty and monetary policy.
The nominees will start the confirmation process by facing questioning from the Senate Banking Committee. It's a significant time for the Fed, as the central bank balances raising the benchmark interest rate to slow inflation while ensuring the pandemic recovery isn't stifled.