The Biden administration plans to nominate Michael S. Barr, a former Treasury Department official, as Federal Reserve's vice chair for supervision. The news that Barr is expected to be the frontrunner for the position was confirmed by CNBC.
A law professor and a former Obama administration official, Barr had also helped in designing the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which completely reconstructed the financial regulation in the United States after the 2008 -2009 financial crisis.
President Biden describing Barr as a qualified candidate said that, "he was instrumental in the passage of Dodd-Frank, to ensure a future financial crisis would not create devastating economic hardship for working families," this statement was followed by the formal White House announcement.
"He understands that this job is not a partisan one, but one that plays a critical role in regulating our nation's financial institutions to ensure Americans are treated fairly and to protect the stability of our economy," Biden added. The position being one of United States' top financial regulatory one has time and again proved to be a challenging one.
The President also confirmed that prior to being confirmed by the Senate, Barr had received support from the Democrats as well as the Republicans. Currently the dean of the University of Michigan's Public Policy School, Barr has completed the 'Biden Administration's slate of candidates' of five open positions for the central bank.
The other nominees are awaiting the official confirmation, these include Jerome H. Powell for another term as Fed chair, Lael Brainard for vice chair, and Lisa D. Cook and Philip N. Jefferson for seats on the Board of Governors. Their nominations have taken crossed the first the hurdle toward confirmation and have been reviewed by the Senate Banking Committee, now only a vote before the full Senate is expected in the coming weeks.
The initial nominee of the administration, Sarah Bloom Raskin, removed herself from consideration last month after West Virginia's Joe Manchin, the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, said he would not support her nomination due to her views on climate change and energy policy ideas.
