The letter from Barr and three other senior Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee comes after the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Vice-Chair of Supervision for the Federal Reserve.
Washington, D.C.— Four senior members of the House Financial Services Committee are sounding the alarm on the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to Vice-Chair of Supervision of the Federal Reserve. U.S. Congressman Andy Barr (KY-06), Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02), Congressman French Hill (AR-02), and Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell detailing their concerns and Ms. Raskin’s radical statements on climate finance. You can read the full letter here. Kate Davidson of Politico broke the news of this letter in Politico’s Morning Money newsletter this morning.
“We write to you to with growing concern about the politicization of the Federal Reserve and sustained efforts to redefine its mandate, especially regarding climate change and the allocation of capital. The Federal Reserve’s responsibility to ensure safety and soundness is critically important, though attempts to weaponize this role to satisfy certain partisan environmental goals threatens to compromise the Board’s independence and permit financial regulators to pick winners and losers in the marketplace,” the Members wrote.
“The role of the Federal Reserve is not to dictate consumer demand, nor is it to determine which industries are worthy of capital and which should be starved of financing. The primary responsibilities of the Federal Reserve are to promote full employment and stable prices, and to ensure the safety and soundness of the financial system. The Federal Reserve’s role is not to advance certain environmental policies, and is certainly not to bias the allocation of capital against entire legal industries,” the Members added.
“We encourage you to continue to focus the Federal Reserve on its core missions around monetary policy, financial stability and supervision of financial firms, and ensure that any focus by on climate change remains within the Board’s narrow congressional mandate,” the Members concluded.
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