Republican Boycott Leaves Fate of Biden Nominees Uncertain

The fate of President Biden's Federal Reserve nominees is up in the air today after Republicans decided to boycott Wednesday afternoon's key Senate panel.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee had scheduled a vote on Sarah Bloom Raskin's appointment, among others, and the renomination of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Raskin, a fierce critic of Wall Street, is Biden's pick to become the Fed's top banking regulator. However, GOP Senators have leveled ethics allegations against her.

Specifically, they accuse Raskin of influence peddling after a three-year stint as second-in-command at the Obama Treasury Department. They also accuse her of wanting to weaponize the central bank to aggressively go after the fossil fuel industry. (RELATED: Unhinged Biden Nominee Believes Fed Must Shut Down Oil Companies to Stop ‘Unlivably Hot Planet')

As for the alleged logrolling, Democrats, Raskin and her former employer adamantly deny the charges.

The Banking Committee had scheduled votes on other Fed nominees Wednesday. All of whom had their confirmations at least postponed.

Fox Business reports:

“Committee Republicans aren't seeking to delay her vote. We're seeking answers,” Banking Committee ranking member Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Tuesday. “Until basic questions have been adequately addressed, I do not think the committee should proceed with a vote on Ms. Raskin.”

Because of the 50-50 split in the Senate, committees are also allocated evenly along party lines. That means if all 12 Republicans on the panel don't show up, the committee can't hold a vote.

While Democrats accuse Toomey and his GOP colleagues of abdicating their responsibilities, Raskin's career timeline has led some to question if she leveraged her connections to help a financial technology services company (Reserve Trust) obtain a Federal Reserve master account while she sat on the company's board of directors.

According to financial disclosures filed by her husband, Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), she sold her Reserve Trust shares for $1.5 million in 2020.

Watch Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) question Raskin:

The Daily Caller's Chris Brunet describes the fallout from this interaction and others in front of the Senate Banking Committee last week:

Following Thursday's hearing, ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey released a letter to Kansas City Fed President Esther George, asking for all meetings, phone calls, emails and text messages involving the decision to grant Reserve Trust its master license, The Hill reported. “It remains puzzling how Reserve Trust obtained this account when other institutions have been denied access, leading one bank to file a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York over the issue,” Toomey reportedly wrote.

In response to Toomey's inquiry, the Kansas City Fed said it reversed its decision after Reverse Trust changed its business model.

For Republicans, the answers left much to be desired. (RELATED: Biden Federal Reserve Nominees Refuse to Turn Over Documents)

However, Toomey said that Republicans would have attended Wednesday's hearing and voted on the other nominees if Raskin was removed from the line-up.

For Democrats, that preposition was a nonstarter.

Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) wasted no time criticizing Toomey. As Roll Call notes, Brown went so far as to accuse Tommey of threatening to undermine the entire COVID-19 economic recovery:

“Americans depend on us to get these nominees on the job as soon as possible. If my colleagues are as concerned about inflation as they claim to be, they will end the theatrics and show up today to do their jobs for the American people,” Brown said in a statement. “Any actions to delay this vote will hurt workers, their families, and our recovery.”