Biden’s Fed Nominee Raskin Withdraws After ‘Baseless Attacks’

Sarah Bloom Raskin on March 15 withdrew as President Joe Biden’s nominee to become the top bank regulator at the Federal Reserve, one day after a key Democratic senator and moderate Republicans said they would not back her, leaving no path to confirmation by the full Senate.

“Despite her readiness—and despite having been confirmed by the Senate with broad, bipartisan support twice in the past—Sarah was subject to baseless attacks from industry and conservative interest groups,” Biden said in a statement.

Raskin had become the most contentious of Biden’s five nominees to the Fed’s Board of Governors, generating strong opposition from the outset from Republicans who said she would use the post to steer the Fed toward oversight policies that would penalize banks who lend to fossil fuel companies.