Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) And Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) Are calling on President Biden to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell with someone more focused on ” eliminate climate risk and advance racial and economic justice, “according to a joint statement reported by Politico.
Leading the news: Powell’s term will end in early 2022, although some economists have said Biden will likely be reappointed.
What they say: While progressive lawmakers acknowledged that the Fed “made positive changes” under Powell, they pushed Biden to appoint someone more aggressive in financial regulation and climate change.
- “Under his leadership, the Federal Reserve has taken very few steps to mitigate the risk that climate change poses to our financial system,” lawmakers, who are part of the House Financial Services Committee, said in the statement.
- “At a time when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns of possible catastrophic and irreversible damage caused by climate change, we need a leader at the helm who will take bold and decisive action to eliminate climate risk,” they added.
- The statement criticized the Fed’s decision to reduce regulations of large banks under Powell. “To move forward with a whole government approach that eliminates climate risk while making our financial system safer, we need a chair that is committed to those goals.”
- Representatives Chuy García (D-Ill.) And Mondaire Jones (DN.Y.) also signed.
It is necessary to emphasize: Few Democratic lawmakers have publicly opposed Powell, but some including Mr. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) Have called him similarly to his deregulation efforts, Politico noted.
In depth: The growing push towards a green Fed