Senator Toomey: Senate shouldn’t proceed with vote on Fed nominee Raskin

Republican Senator Pat Toomey said on Tuesday that the Senate Banking Committee should not proceed with a vote on Fed nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin unless she answers questions on the Reserve Trust.

“We’ve asked basic questions and she’s refused to provide answers” he said. Toomey added that if Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown proceeds on a vote on the other Fed nominees without Raskin, the Republicans will attend and vote.

The Senate confirmation of President Biden’s nominee to be the Federal Reserve’s Vice Chairwoman for supervision of banks, Sarah Bloom Raskin, ran into some rough waters recently. The Senate Banking Committee should reject Raskin’s nomination this month for four reasons: swampy corruption, a lack of trust, wrongheaded policies, and strategic cluelessness.

If confirmed by the Senate, Raskin would manage the Fed’s annual bank stress tests. Because of Rankin’s past remarks arguing that financial institutions should starve oil and gas companies of the cash they need to operate, there’s a likelihood she’d use her position to do far more than impartially review bank safety and liquidity.

Raskin, a veteran of the Obama Department of the Treasury, is married to powerful Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin— together they are a quintessential D.C. power couple. Of course, what good is power unless you can use it to enrich yourself? 

In Raskin’s case, this entailed being invited on the board of Reserve Trust, a financial technology firm that had a big problem—it needed a Master Account from the Fed for its business model (clearing dollar transactions with the developing world without the need to partner with a traditional bank) to work.

No fintech company had ever gotten Fed approval for a Master Account and Reserve Trust had just had their first attempt rejected. Enter Raskin and a friendly phone call with the Kansas City Fed and, before you know it, Reserve Trust becomes the first fintech firm with a Master Account.

Sarah Bloom Raskin, nominated to be vice chairman for supervision and a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, is sworn in before a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb (Bill Clark/Pool via REUTERS / Reuters Photos)

Under questioning from senators, Raskin pledged that she would not act upon her past repeated threats to defund America’s domestic energy industry. The problem is, once confirmed by the Senate and installed as Fed vice chairwoman, there’s little the Senate can do, practically, to recall her.