Last week, President Joe Biden nominated Jerome Powell for a second term as chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
The White House praised Powell for his leadership during the pandemic to cushion the blow of the pandemic and help get the economy growing again. Since Biden took office, the economy has created over 5.6 million jobs, and unemployment has fallen to 4.6 percent – two years faster than projected. The pace of the U.S. economy is faster than the rest of the developed world, officials said.
Powell took office as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in February 2018 for a four-year term ending in February 2022. His term as a member of the Board of Governors will expire on Jan. 31, 2028.
Also, Biden nominated Dr. Lael Brainard to serve as vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Biden also cited Brainard’s leadership and input during the pandemic as one of the country’s leading macroeconomists. She took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in June 2014 to fill an unexpired term ending January 31, 2026.
“While there’s still more to be done, we’ve made remarkable progress over the last 10 months in getting Americans back to work and getting our economy moving again,” Biden said. “That success is a testament to the economic agenda I’ve pursued and to the decisive action that the Federal Reserve has taken under Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard to help steer us through the worst downturn in modern American history and put us on the path to recovery. As I’ve said before, we can’t just return to where we were before the pandemic, we need to build our economy back better, and I’m confident that Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard’s focus on keeping inflation low, prices stable, and delivering full employment will make our economy stronger than ever before. Together, they also share my deep belief that urgent action is needed to address the economic risks posed by climate change and stay ahead of emerging risks in our financial system. Fundamentally, if we want to continue to build on the economic success of this year, we need stability and independence at the Federal Reserve – and I have full confidence after their trial by fire over the last 20 months that Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard will provide the strong leadership our country needs.”
There remain three vacant seats on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for Biden to fill, including the vice chair for supervision. Biden intends to make those appointments beginning in early December and is committed to improving the diversity in the Board’s composition.