WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden announced Friday that he plans to appoint Michael Barr, the dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Policy, as the Federal Reserve’s oversight vice president.
Barr’s selection comes after Biden’s first choice for Fed posting Sarah Bloom Raskin he withdrew his nomination a month ago in the face of opposition from Republicans and a Democrat, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. Raskin’s critics had argued that she would apply the Fed’s regulatory authority to climate change and possibly discourage banks from lending to energy companies.
But with Barr, Biden noted the importance of politics in a statement Friday that said his candidate had previously approved the Senate bipartisan.
“Michael brings the experience and expertise needed for this important position at a critical time for our economy and families across the country,” Biden said.
The Democratic president said Barr “has spent his career protecting consumers and, during his time in the Treasury, played a critical role in creating both the Office of Consumer Financial Protection and the position for which the nomenc “.
Barr is the dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy in Michigan. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions during the Obama administration that helped design the 2010 Dodd-Frank regulations after the devastating 2008 financial crisis.
Barr, a Rhodes Fellow who served as Secretary of Justice David Souter in the Supreme Court, also served during the Clinton administration in the White House, the Treasury Department, and the State Department.
Despite these credentials, some Liberal critics last year blocked Barr’s candidacy to become the Biden administration’s currency auditor, a charge that regulates domestic banks. These critics viewed Barr’s role on the advisory boards of the financial firms Lending Club and Ripple Labs. They also claimed that he had helped dilute the proposals for stricter banking regulations during the Obama administration.
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic chairman of the Bank Committee, expressed his full support for Barr.
“Michael Barr understands the importance of this role at this critical time in our economic recovery,” Brown said. “I strongly urge my fellow Republicans to abandon their old book of personal attack and demagoguery games and put Americans and their pockets first.”
Others praise Barr and say it seems very appropriate for the Fed’s position.
David Dworkin, president of the National Housing Conference, which advocates for affordable housing, suggested that Barr’s understanding of Wall Street provides him with the right combination of “centrist expertise and progressive political views” to get Senate confirmation. divided.
Barr would join the Fed in a particularly difficult and high-risk period for the central bank and the economy.
The Fed is ready for increase interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to reduce persistently high inflation. However, it will be extraordinarily difficult Fed Chairman Jerome Powell —Which is awaiting Senate confirmation for a second term — to curb inflation by raising borrowing costs without also weakening the economy and perhaps even causing a recession.
“It’s about landing a very tricky plane on the runway with no problems,” Dworkin said. “It’s very difficult to do.”
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