The battle over a Biden Federal Reserve nominee is escalating as Republicans prepare to grill her over her outspoken political advocacy, including her political support for reparations and policing reform, and Democrats accuse her critics of bias.
Lisa Cook, a professor of economics at Michigan State University who served under President Barack Obama as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers, was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on the Fed’s Board of Governors. During her confirmation hearing Thursday, Republicans are planning to highlight her past political remarks and social media use to raise questions about her commitment to remaining nonpartisan as a top Fed official.
Cook has a history of speaking about reparations, which is the notion that the government should subsidize or give some sort of payout to the decedents of slaves. She has supported legislation that would create a commission to study and develop reparation proposals.
“Everybody benefited from slavery, everybody … we have to come to terms with that,” said Cook during a 2020 appearance on the EconTalk podcast. “So, I think that we absolutely need some sort of reckoning with that. There are many proposals on the table to study the possibility of reparations, many economic proposals being put forward, and I think they should all be taken seriously.”
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Cook, if confirmed, would be the first black woman to serve on the central bank’s board. She hails from a family of civil rights activists with ties to civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. Some liberals are hoping that her experience with the intersection of race and economics will help further the central bank’s diversity initiatives, although some Republicans are fearful that she is too partisan for the role.
A senior Republican Senate aide characterized Cook’s past statements as “inappropriate” for someone being considered for a leading role at the Fed, which is intended to be an independent regulatory institution. The questioning will not be focused as much on Cook’s individual views on reparations, policing, and politics but rather highlighting her past remarks in the context of an independent central bank, the aide told the Washington Examiner.
The aide said that while the main focus on Thursday will be on highlighting Cook’s views through the lens of the Fed’s independence and commitment to its statutory mandate, GOP committee members are still concerned about her views in a more general sense because the lawmakers perceive them as being very politically partisan.
Cook maintains an active Twitter account, and her interactions with other users on the website have also generated some concern among Republican members. On its own Twitter account, the Senate Banking Committee Republicans highlighted several retweets by Cook. While retweets don’t necessarily denote agreement, they will still likely be a point of inquiry during Thursday’s nomination hearing.
“For years, Prof. Cook has used her Twitter account to engage in partisan political fights, taking extreme Left-wing positions on issues, especially noneconomic topics,” the committee said. “Regardless of the merits, those are issues to be decided by elected officials who are accountable to voters.”
For instance, Cook has retweeted people who have been critical about the current state of policing and in support of mass racial justice protests that sprung up across the country after the murder of George Floyd.
“The violence in Portland stopped the day federal officers left town. Stop saying the protesters are the violent ones,” said one missive, which she retweeted after riots and looting rocked the Oregon city.
During a 2020 interview for the show Merrittocracy, Cook was asked about some of the causes and charities that she supports and thinks others should support with their time or finances. Among others, she cited liberal voting rights activist Stacey Abrams’s group and said she has also donated to “bail funds” for “protestors who have been thrown in jail for no reason.”
Cook also retweeted someone expressing anger over Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s attempt to bank municipalities from mandating masks during the COVID-19 pandemic: “He’s literally trying to murder us, especially BIPOC people in South Georgia. Are you KIDDING me?” the tweet from July 2020 read.
Republicans are not expected to focus solely on Cook’s personally held political and social beliefs but will rather use them to raise concerns about her impartiality and express anxieties they hold about the central bank veering further from its mandate.
“The committee will be reviewing these prior statements and assessing whether Prof. Cook will respect the independent and apolitical nature of the Fed just in the same way that senators on both sides of the aisle assessed whether Stephen Moore would respect the Fed’s independence,” the GOP aide told the Washington Examiner.
Moore was nominated by President Donald Trump to fill a seat on the board but later pulled his nomination under pressure from lawmakers over his partisan right-wing political views and controversial past statements, among other issues.
The Fed abides by a narrow dual mandate — achieving maximum employment and maintaining price stability. Sen. Pat Toomey, the ranking member of the Banking Committee, has been outspoken about his disdain for “mission creep,” which is what he contends has been happening with climate change and social initiatives undertaken by some of the Fed’s regional banks.
Cook’s nomination, like other recent Biden Fed nominees, has been met with praise on the Left, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren accusing her colleagues on the Right of disingenuous attacks against her nomination.
“The attacks are racist, sexist, and just plain dumb. But make no mistake: There’s a reason behind them that goes to the heart of the matter ― and that is, she’s good. That’s why she’s under attack,” the Massachusetts Democrat told HuffPost.
In addition to Cook, two other of Biden’s Fed nominees face a hearing before the Banking Committee on Thursday.
Sarah Bloom Raskin, a climate crusader who was picked to be the powerful vice chairwoman of supervision, is facing backlash from Republicans and energy companies over her views on climate change.
Raskin’s nomination is being opposed by two dozen state treasurers, auditors, and financial officers who sent a letter to Biden urging him to pull her nomination because her past statements show that she is “willing to place the growth and stability of the U.S. economy at risk to achieve her preferred social outcomes.”
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Additionally, 41 trade associations told Senate Banking Committee leadership on Friday that policies favored by Raskin would “wreak havoc” on the U.S. economy if enacted.
Phillip Jefferson, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty at Davidson College, is also being considered for a seat on the Fed’s board.
