Joe Biden’s nominee to regulate the banking industry has previously expressed support for economic reparations to black Americans…but are you shocked? Biden nominated Lisa Cook, a professor of international relations and economics at Michigan State University, on January 14th to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Cook has an extensive […]
Joe Biden’s nominee to regulate the banking industry has previously expressed support for economic reparations to black Americans…but are you shocked?
Biden nominated Lisa Cook, a professor of international relations and economics at Michigan State University, on January 14th to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Cook has an extensive history of supporting “race-specific” financial compensation because “the injury was race-specific,” BizPacReview reports.
“Everybody benefited from slavery. Everybody. So, I think that we absolutely need some sort of reckoning with that,” Cook said on the EconTalk podcast in September of 2020.
“One thing I do support is H.R. 40 … I think that’s absolutely what needs to be done,” Cook said in a March 2021 talk at Berkeley Haas, referencing a bill that would establish a commission to study and develop reparation proposals.
Perhaps the most outspoken critic of Cook has been Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey, who has warned that “many on the Left want to misuse financial regulation to politicize capital allocation and advance a far-left agenda.”
In a January 25th letter, Toomey further expressed “concerns with the significant lack of diversity in geography and professional experience in [Biden’s] slate of nominees to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.”
The Senate Banking Committee is set to meet Thursday to determine whether Cook’s nomination, as well as two other Fed picks, will head to a full Senate vote. It is unknown how key moderates - including Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema - will vote.
