Senate Confirms Biden's Federal Reserve Nominee

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Dr. Lisa Cook, who has a history of Black Lives Matter bullying and radical monetary policy beliefs, to the Federal Reserve board of governors.

The Senate voted 51-50 to confirm Cook, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.

Congress’s upper chamber voted earlier on Tuesday to invoke cloture on the controversial Fed nominee, which passed with 50 Senate Democrats backing her.

Cook would be the first black woman Fed governor, and Democrats have claimed that she would bring, as a Ph.D. economist and a professor, a different perspective to the powerful Federal Reserve board.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, cheered that Cook would be the first black woman on the Federal Reserve in its 109-year history.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote that Cook is “simply unqualified” to serve on the Federal Reserve board of governors. The leading Banking committee Republican said that Cook has little academic experience in monetary policy and worried that Cook may be a “dove” on monetary policy, which may lead to more inflation.

Toomey said:

Professor Cook’s record indicates that she is likely to inject further political bias into the Fed’s work—at a time when we need the Fed focused on fighting inflation. In her statements, tweets, and retweets, Professor Cook has supported race-based reparations, promoted conspiracies about Georgia voter laws, and sought to cancel those who disagree with her views, such as publicly calling for the firing of an economist who dared to tweet that he opposed defunding the Chicago police.

The Fed is already suffering from a credibility problem because of its involvement in politics and departure from its statutorily proscribed role. I’m concerned that Professor Cook will further politicize an institution that must remain apolitical.

Toomey said that Cook has sought to “cancel” an economist who opposed defunding the police, and has voiced support for “race-based reparations.”

He also disputed the “absurd” Senate Democrat argument that Republicans simply oppose Cook because she is a black woman.

The Senate voted in late April to invoke cloture, but Senate Democrats failed to muster the votes on Cook.

Senate Republicans have long questioned her qualifications for the post and have sounded the alarm over her controversial views.

According to internal Michigan State University documents obtained by Breitbart News, Cook’s status as a full professor appears to have been elevated even though she had been rejected for the position.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) told Breitbart News that he wanted a more “fulsome investigation” into accusations that Cook embellished her resume after she swore under that she had not embellished her record.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson noted that Cook had allegedly “lied” on her resume about writing an influential peer-reviewed paper in the American Economic Review.

Carlson remarked, “But, administrators at Michigan State granted her tenure anyway in the name of equity and equity is what Lisa Cook could bring to the Fed.”

Republicans have attacked Cook’s many controversial views.

Cook gave a presentation in support of legislation that would create a commission to study and develop reparations proposals.

The Federal Reserve nominee also agreed with calls to have the Federal Reserve focus on targeting its federal funds rate to improve the black unemployment rate instead of the national employment rate.

Cook also called on the University of Chicago to fire its economics professor, Harald Uhlig, in June 2020 after Uhlig criticized the Black Lives Matter movement for its support of defunding the police. Cook accused Uhlig of “racial harassment.”

She claimed that “free speech has its limits.”