Biden Fed Nominee Withdraws After Manchin Says No

Update: Sarah Bloom Raskin has withdrawn from consideration for a key post on the Federal Reserve's board of governors, handing Sen. Joe Manchin another win. The Democrat joined all 50 Republicans in the Senate Monday in opposition to confirming Bloom at the Fed's top banking regulator. In a statement Tuesday, President Biden said Bloom "was subject to baseless attacks from industry and conservative interest groups" despite having been confirmed with "broad, bipartisan support" in the past, reports Reuters. After Bloom's withdrawal, Sen. Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, said he would move ahead with Biden's four other nominees. Our story from Monday follows:

Sen. Joe Manchin may have moved Jerome Powell and three other Federal Reserve nominees closer to confirmation, even as he sinks the chances of another. The West Virginia Democrat announced Monday that he won't vote to put Sarah Bloom Raskin in the job overseeing banks, Politico reports. But in indicating his hesitation last week, Manchin told the Senate Banking Committee to move ahead with the other Fed nominees—including Powell, who's up for a second term as chair—who have been bottled up. Manchin's opposition means Raskin would need a Republican vote to become vice chair for supervision.

That seems unlikely; Republicans on the panel have been critical of her and prevented a committee vote on the nominations, per NPR. The Democratic chairman, Sen. Sherrod Brown, had declined to separate Raskin's nomination from the others. Manchin wants the issue of rising inflation and energy costs to be a priority, and he said he's not sure Raskin agrees. "Her previous public statements have failed to satisfactorily address my concerns about the critical importance of financing an all-of-the-above energy policy to meet our nation's critical energy needs," Manchin said in a statement.

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Republicans also have questioned whether Raskin abused her connections to help a fin-tech company; the company and Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, which was involved in the matter, have vouched for Raskin. Her husband is Rep. Jamie Raskin, who managed former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial for the Democrats. The Biden administration shows no sign of dropping her nomination. "She has earned widespread support in the face of an unprecedented, baseless campaign led by oil and gas companies that sought to tarnish her distinguished career," a White House statement said. (More Sarah Bloom Raskin stories.)