Raskin has a long history in the Fed, having previously served on the board of governors under President Obama. In 2020, it was reported that Raskin was under consideration to serve as Biden’s Secretary of Treasury, a position which was ultimately filled by former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
“Sarah Bloom Raskin has served both as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and as a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board,” reads the White House’s official statement to announce the appointment. “At Treasury, she oversaw the Treasury Department and its various agencies and departments, pursuing innovative solutions to enhance American’s shared prosperity, the resilience of our country’s critical financial infrastructure, particularly as it related to climate risk and cybersecurity, and the defense of consumer safeguards in the financial marketplace.”
Raskin’s reputation as a regulatory hawk is interpreted as a sign of the Biden administration’s commitment to a tougher financial policy, which has elicited criticism from opponents of a more expansive regulatory regime.
Additionally, Biden announced that Lisa Cook and Phillip Jefferson would serve on the board of governors for the Federal Reserve. Cook is a career academic whose work specializes in international economic policy, whereas Jefferson’s work focuses on labor markets and poverty studies.
In the coming weeks, all three candidates will face questions from the Senate Banking Committee as they prepare to assume their offices. They join the Federal Reserve at one of the most trying times of the institution’s history, as policymakers thread the needle of stymying inflation without obliterating the stock market.
