Lael Brainard, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve, was in New York to speak at an event.
Lael Brainard is often the outlier.
One of the seven Federal Reserve governors has made a habit of objecting to motions to roll back financial regulations. No governor had dissented since 2011.
There have been three dissents from her colleagues in the last few years.
The Volcker Rule, a landmark provision of the financial-crisis Dodd-Frank law that limits banks' dealings with private-equity firms and hedge funds, was one of Brainard's more recent dissents.
The rule was altered by Brainard. She warned that the proposals could allow banks to return to risky activities seen in the 2008 financial crisis.
Brainard was the only Democrat on the Fed's board.
Someone is listening. His name is Joe Biden.
The president has chosen Brainard to be the vice chair of the Fed, one of the most powerful economic positions in the world, and perhaps the heir apparent to the Federal Reserve chair role itself. Powell was picked by Biden to lead the Fed for a second term.
The balance of employment versus inflation, the direction of regulation over the nation's biggest banks, and how interest rates are set are all carried out by the Fed vice chair.
Over the last 10 months, we have made remarkable progress in getting Americans back to work and getting our economy moving again. President Joe Biden said that the success is a testament to the economic agenda he has pursued and the action taken by the Federal Reserve.
We need to build our economy back better, and I am confident that Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard will do that. They both agree that urgent action is needed to address the economic risks posed by climate change and stay ahead of emerging risks in our financial system.
A spokesman for the Federal Reserve wouldn't make Brainard available for an interview.
The 59-year-old Brainard will be nominated by Biden to serve as Powell's deputy and help manage the U.S. economy through a jump in inflation, a steady but inconsistent recovery and sluggish labor force participation.
The days leading up to the White House announcement were when Brainard was thought to be under consideration for the top job. The Fed's actions in 2020 to flood the economy with cash as businesses across the country closed due to Covid-19 earned Powell high marks from leaders in both parties.
The Fed's purchases of Treasury and mortgage securities saved the U.S. economy from a deeper recession, according to economists.
Progressives like Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Jeff Merkley of Oregon helped the administration make the decision to promote Brainard to vice chair.
The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing on the CARES Act on September 28, 2021.
Warren urged Biden to find a Fed chair that was tougher on banks and to stay away from Powell, whom she called a dangerous man. Whitehouse and Merkley pushed for a candidate who would consider climate change a serious threat and would change the way banks think about it.
Climate change and the race-based economic disparity that the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated are topics that Brainard has delivered speeches on.
She told Harvard undergraduates in February that the Labor Department's headline unemployment rate is a useful metric, but it tends to mask inequalities when taken in isolation. She considers maximum employment to be a critical guidepost for monetary policy.
The speeches were seen as an attempt to differentiate herself from Powell, who had been reluctant to expand the Fed's jurisdiction to topics that could be perceived as partisan.
The Fed has placed a premium on its political independence even though it was created by Congress and its leaders are confirmed by the Senate.
Board members serve 14-year terms in order to insulate them from the day-to-day desires of elected officials. Monetary policy can be used to maximize employment, stabilizing prices and moderate long-term interest rates.
Brainard did not always appeal to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Some progressives painted Brainard as too moderate for the role of Treasury Secretary when speculation was raging over who Biden would pick.
The Executive Director of the Revolving Door Project made a case against Brainard in a post.
He and his colleagues wrote that we need a Treasury Secretary who can overcome the Bill Clinton and early Obama era Democratic technocrat's fixation on budget deficits.
Brainard has shown that she won't be involved in climate issues at the Fed. How can we be sure that she will do her job? The Center for Economic and Policy Research is a left-leaning think tank.
The Federal Reserve Chairman and the Fed Governor pose for a picture at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
The case for a digital dollar has been pressed by Brainard, who is seen as a leading voice at the Fed. She said at the conference that a cryptocurrencies backed by the central bank could make it easier to serve the underbanked.
She said that the Federal Reserve was committed to ensuring that the public had access to safe, reliable, and secure means of payment. We must explore the extent to which households and businesses may migrate further to digital payments over time.
The Board of Governors is the main governing body of the Fed and Brainard has served there since 2004. If Brainard is confirmed, he will serve as vice chair for four years after Richard Clarida's term ends.
Her career and life are marked by international relations.
Brainard was born in Germany to a Foreign Services officer and grew up in East Germany and Poland during the Cold War. Her PhD was in economics at Harvard in 1989.
She focused on the relationship between trade policies and employment. She was one of the president's chief advisors to the Group of Eight industrial nations when she worked for the Clinton administration.
The highest-ranking woman in the department at the time was Brainard, who was the under secretary for international affairs. She was the Treasury's chief diplomat during the global financial and European debt crises.
She resigned from the Treasury post as it became clear that Barack Obama was going to nominate her to the Fed's board. She started her 14-year term at the central bank in June of 2014).
Her quiet ambition and data-driven work have endeared her to her Republican colleagues like Powell. She is a regular candidate for the nation's top economic posts because of her appealing qualities to both sides of the aisle.
Brainard's confirmation odds have waned somewhat among Republicans as the Biden administration prolongs its decision on whom to nominate.
Her recent speeches about climate change and other progressive priorities, coupled with a longer track record of supporting bank regulation, is believed to have eroded some support among Republicans over the past 10 months.
Her history of favoring lower interest rates at the risk of fueling inflation may no longer be relevant in an economy with consumer prices rising at their fastest clip since 1990.
