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Manchin torpedoes controversial Biden nominee for Federal Reserve regulator
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin may have put the kibosh on Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Joe Biden's nominee for a top regulatory position at the Federal Reserve. The senator said Monday he is "unable to support her nomination" to be the vice chair of supervision at the Fed.
Lacking Manchin's support, Democrats will likely not have the votes needed to confirm Raskin, who has called for the Fed to punish banks and financial institutions that have business agreements with fossil fuel energy companies as a way to fight climate change. Raskin's positions on energy were central to Manchin's statement opposing her nomination.
"Now more than ever, the United States must have policy leaders and economic experts who are focused on the most pressing issues facing the American people and our nation - specifically rising inflation and energy cost," Manchin said in a statement Monday.
"I have carefully reviewed Sarah Bloom Raskin’s qualifications and previous public statements. 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," he added.
Sarah Bloom Raskin's 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\u2019s critical energy needs. I'm unable to support her nomination to @federalreserve Boardpic.twitter.com/0tDVXtRpKc— Senator Joe Manchin (@Senator Joe Manchin) 1647276622
Raskin is the second major Biden nomination Manchin has torpedoed. A little more than a year ago, Manchin said he would not support the nomination of Neera Tanden to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget. At the time, the moderate Democrat cited "overtly partisan statements" Tanden had made on social media as cause to believe she "will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget."
Manchin's rejection of Biden's nominee then drew outrage from the left, and so has his rejection of Raskin now.
"After all the psychoanalyzing of Manchin over the past year, it's become quite evident that the explanation for his behavior is simple: He's deeply, deeply corrupt," Salon politics writer Amanda Marcotte accused.
Occupy Democrats, an activist left-wing group that's popular on social media, posted, "Senator Joe Manchin stabs Joe Biden in the back again" and wrote in all-caps: "RT IF YOU THINK MANCHIN SHOULD BE BOOTED FROM THE PARTY!"
The White House has given no indication that Raskin's nomination will be pulled and seems to be ignoring Manchin's statement for now.
"[Sarah Bloom Raskin] is one of the most qualified people to have ever been nominated for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors – she previously served on the Board and she served as second-in-command at Treasury, both positions where she earned bipartisan Senate confirmation," deputy press secretary Chris Meagher tweeted after Manchin released his statement.
"We are working to line up the bipartisan support that she deserves, so that she can be confirmed by the Senate for this important position," he added.
A spokesperson for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said Monday that the committee will move forward with Bloom's nomination.
"Senator Brown is working to move forward Ms. Bloom Raskin’s nomination with bipartisan support, as Ms. Bloom Raskin has earned twice before," Browns office said.
While bipartisan support for Raskin could still save her nomination, technically, she's faced intense opposition from GOP senators. Republicans have criticized Raskin's controversial positions on climate change and scrutinized her time serving on the board of Reserve Trust, a fintech trust company. Reserve Trust became the only non-bank state-chartered trust to receive access to the Federal Reserve's payment system while Raskin, a former Fed official, was serving on the company's board between May 2017 and August 2019.
Republicans have questioned whether Raskin, who served as a Fed governor from 2010 to 2014, persuaded the Fed to give Reserve Trust a master account and then received 200,000 shares of company stock as compensation. The sale of those stocks is the subject of an ethics complaint filed by the watchdog group American Accountability Foundation against Raskin's husband, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
AAF took credit for sinking Biden's nominee after Manchin published his statement.
BREAKING: AAF research sinks another Biden nominee, Sarah Bloom Raskin.\n\nThrough our investigation, we exposed her radical views on fossil fuels, partisan politics, and shady ethics.pic.twitter.com/9PQjW4iio4— Biden Noms | American Accountability Foundation (@Biden Noms | American Accountability Foundation) 1647279932
"Through our investigation, we exposed her radical views on fossil fuels, partisan politics, and shady ethics," the group said.
Lummis: Biden Fed Nominee Raked In $1.5 Million From Start-Up She Pulled Strings For
Sarah Bloom Raskin used her connections and influence and called the Fed about Reserve Trust’s denied application.Watchdog group files ethics complaint against Trump impeachment ringleader Rep. Jamie Raskin
A conservative watchdog group has filed an ethics complaint against Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin after he failed to properly disclose stock shares that his wife — who was nominated by President Joe Biden to regulate banking at the Federal Reserve — received for advising a Colorado-based financial technology trust company.
The American Accountability Foundation on Monday said in a complaint filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics that the Maryland lawmaker had failed to disclose his wife Sarah Bloom Raskin's ownership of a massive amount of stock and did not report the million-dollar sale of those stocks in the time period required by law.
The complaint was first reported by Fox Business. It cited a Business Insider report that revealed that Jamie Raskin disclosed in August 2021 that his wife Sarah Bloom Raskin sold 195,936 shares of Reserve Trust for $1.5 million, according to his federal financial documents. But Raskin reported the stock sale, which happened on Dec. 12, 2020, eight months after the fact.
According to AAF, Raskin violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, or STOCK Act, by failing to report his wife's financial gain in time. The law was passed in 2012 and is intended to increase transparency on Capitol Hill by making it illegal for members of Congress or their families to profit by trading stocks with insider knowledge. Under the law, Sarah Bloom Raskin's stock payout should have been reported to Congress within 45 days of the transaction.
"Sarah and Jamie Raskin are career politicians who have used the system to enrich themselves, and it is time that someone holds them accountable," AAF founder Tom Jones said in a statement. "If House rules are going to mean anything, the House Ethics Committee needs to open an investigation and sanction Jamie Raskin for hiding this shady stock deal from the public."
Raskin, a top House Democrat, is best known for leading the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. His wife Sarah is Biden's nominee to be vice chairwoman of supervision at the Federal Reserve, the most powerful banking regulator in the government. She previously held positions at the U.S. Treasury and the Fed during the Obama administration.
In a statement to Business Insider, Raskin acknowledged that he turned in his financial disclosure late, explaining that the death of his 25-year-old son Thomas on Dec. 31, 2020, happened just after the stock sale.
"We lost our son during the reporting period, and I filed the report late," the lawmaker said.
The AAF complaint recognized the "tragic loss" of the Raskin's son, writing that "any reasonable person would agree that they should be afforded some latitude in meeting filing requirements during that time." However, the complaint notes that Raskin "quickly returned to his official duties" and led the impeachment trial against Trump in January.
"If Representative Raskin was able to perform these official duties during this time, it is reasonable to expect that he should have been able to comply with the Periodic Transaction Report requirements during these times and not frustrate the legitimate ends of Congressional oversight by waiting nine months to disclose the sale," the complaint said.
The possible ethics violation is sure to give Republicans ammunition to oppose Sarah Bloom Raskin's nomination to the Fed. GOP lawmakers have already questioned her controversial positions on climate change, which include calling for the Fed to punish banks and financial institutions that have business agreements with fossil-fuel energy companies.
Bloom Raskin has also faced questions about her time with Reserve Trust, joining the company in May 2017 and leaving in August 2019. While she served on Reserve Trust's board, the company received access to the Fed's payment system and was the only non-bank state-chartered trust to do so. The company had previously applied for a master account and was denied in June 2017.
Republicans have questioned whether Bloom Raskin, who served as a Fed governor from 2010 to 2014, persuaded the Fed to give Reserve Trust a master account and then received 200,000 shares of company stock as compensation.
Sarah Bloom Raskin has denied any wrongdoing.
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