Exclusive – Sen. Bill Cassidy: Fed Nominee’s Climate Policies to Kill Oil and Gas Jobs, Give Russia ‘Leverage’ over the World

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Thursday that Sarah Bloom Raskin, one of President Joe Biden’s nominees to serve on the Federal Reserve board of governors, has advocated for policies that would eliminate thousands of oil and natural gas jobs in his state and give Russia more “leverage” over the world.

Cassidy spoke to Breitbart News as the Senate Banking Committee held a nomination hearing for Raskin to become the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, the nation’s top bank regulator.

Republicans, including Cassidy, have charged that if confirmed, Raskin would use the Fed to discourage banks from lending to oil and natural gas companies.

Cassidy said, “They’re trying to kill an essential industry to the world economy by nominating people for the Federal Reserve that will use fiduciary rules to unemploy 12.5 percent of the state, and give Russia more leverage over the rest of the world.”

Two years ago, in an op-ed for the New York Times, Raskin called oil and gas a “dying” industry and criticized the Fed’s willingness to support lending to fossil-fueled companies as part of its emergency support during the coronavirus pandemic.

Raskin suggested in 2021 that financial regulators should support a “rapid, orderly and just transition away from high emission assets.”

The Louisiana senator continued, “How can we hurt our national security and our economy more? We need a clear-minded nonprofit, nonpartisan monetary policy, not activists carrying out ideological and political agendas.”

During the hearing, Raskin said she would not try to politicize lending.

“It is inappropriate for the Fed to make credit decisions and allocations,” Raskin said. “Banks choose their borrowers, not the Fed. It’s inappropriate for the Fed to choose winners and losers and doing so is not the proper institutional role of the Fed.”

Senators at the Senate Banking confirmation remained unconvinced by remarks during the hearing, suggesting she is trying to win over reluctant Republican senators with her statements.

“This is one of the most remarkable cases of confirmation conversion I have ever seen,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, said.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.