Senate Democrats dismissed Dr. Lisa Cook as Biden Federal Reserve nominee. She has a history supporting reparations and cancelling those critical of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and advocating policies that could politicize Fed.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted to release Cook from the Senate Banking Committee deadlock. The committee voted 12-12 following unanimous opposition by Banking Republicans. All Republicans voted against her nomination, with the exception of Sen. John Kennedy (R.LA), who did NOT vote. Kennedy had voted against Kennedy’s nomination in committee.
She was discharged by the Senate with a vote of 50 to 49. This will allow her to be eligible for full Senate confirmation. However, she will have to face a difficult voting schedule as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.NY) will spend next week confirming Supreme Court nominee Ketanji brown Jackson.
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Senator Steve Daines (R MT) stated that Cook would politicize Federal Reserve.
“At a moment when inflation is at a forty-year high, and Montana families are struggling to cope with rising grocery prices, we need leaders who are committed to an independent, non-political Federal Reserve that will combat inflation. He said that he didn’t believe Dr. Cook was the nominee.
If confirmed, Cook would become the first black woman Fed Governor. Democrats claim that Cook would bring a new perspective to the nation’s central bank.
She is an economist with a Ph.D. and a tenured professor. Organizations around the globe are interested in her perspective and input. Sherrod Brown, a member of the Senate Banking Committee (D-OH), stated that she will be bringing a critical voice into the Fed, which has been lacking for too long.
Republicans have raised concerns about her political activism and have asked her where she was from.
Senator Pat Toomey (R. PA), the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, stated before the vote:
Professor Cook’s past of extremist left-wing political advocacy, and hostility towards opposing views makes her unfit for the Fed.
I have repeatedly stated that it is extremely important to keep politics from the money supply. Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve has been influenced by politics.
Some left-leaning people, including the Biden administration itself, advocate that the Fed exercise its supervisory power to solve complex political issues such as how to deal with global warming and education policy. These are very important issues. These issues are not directly related to the Fed’s limited expertise and statutory mandates.
Professor Cook’s track record suggests that she will likely inject more political bias into Fed’s work at a time when hyper-focus is on inflation and adhering to the Fed’s dual mandate are at their most critical.
Professor Cook supported race-based reparations and promoted conspiracies regarding Georgia voter laws. She also sought to cancel the views of those who were not in her camp. For example, she publicly called for the firing an economist who tweeted that he was against defunding Chicago’s police force.
These tweets were brought to the attention of the public by the Banking Committee Republican staff. Professor Cook then blocked the Banking Committee Republican’s Twitter account one day before her nomination hearing. Evidently, Prof. Cook is not only aware of how inflamatory her tweets are but also doesn’t respect the Senate’s constitutional obligation to vet her public statements.
Cook, an economist and international relations professor at Michigan State University, made a presentation to support H.R. 40, which would establish a commission to examine and develop reparations proposals.
She also appears to be in agreement with the Federal Reserve’s call to focus its Federal Funds Rate on improving the black unemployment rate and not the national employment rate.
Federal Reserve nominee also stated that disparities in coronavirus assistance are due to “systemic racist.”
She also supports reparations, affirmative action at California universities and corporate diversity quotas.
She suggested that this might not be enough. This is why we need to have “blue skies thinking” to address “systemic problems…structural racism, and racial disparities.”
