According to the White House, President Joe Biden will nominate Philip Jefferson for the position of vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Jefferson is one of the newest members of the Board of Governors, but he would take over a key policymaking role at a time when inflation needs to be controlled without causing a recession. Biden will also nominate Adriana Kugler to fill a vacancy on the board of governors, along with Lisa Cook to serve another term as governor. Kugler represents the United States at the World Bank and would become the first Latina on the board, while Cook has been on the board since May 2022. “These nominees understand that this job is not a partisan one, but one that plays a critical role in pursuing maximum employment, maintaining price stability, and supervising many of our nation’s financial institutions,” Biden said in a statement. “I am confident these nominees will help build upon the historically strong economic recovery we have had under my Administration.”
The moves, which will need Senate confirmation, come as the Fed also is navigating its way through a banking crisis that has seen multiple regional institutions shuttered over the past two months. The Senate confirmed Jefferson to the board in May 2022, four months after he was nominated by Biden. Since taking his seat, Jefferson has been relatively quiet on the policy front. In recent remarks, he argued against raising the Fed’s 2% inflation target and said he wasn’t especially worried about the pace at which the economy is slowing. He has voted for each of the interest rate increases approved since he took his seat.