Trump names two more picks to fill Fed Board

by Donna Borak @donnaborak April 16, 2018: 4:03 PM ET

President Trump is slowly filling the empty seats on the Federal Reserve Board.

On Monday, the president announced his plans to nominate Richard Clarida, a Columbia University economics professor and a global strategic adviser for the Pimco investment management firm, as vice chairman of the central bank.

Clarida, 60, a former Treasury official in the George W. Bush administration, would serve as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's deputy. He would replace Stanley Fischer, who stepped down as the No. 2 in October. Powell began his four-year term in February.

Trump also named Michelle Bowman, a state bank commissioner of Kansas, to be a Fed governor. Her nomination will fulfill a 2014 congressional requirement to reserve one seat on the board for a community banker.

Both nominations need confirmation by the Senate. If confirmed, Clarida and Bowman would help fill four of the vacant seats remaining on the seven-member board, effectively helping Trump reshape the Fed.

Clarida, a respected economist, brings deep knowledge of financial markets acquired after working more than a decade as an asset manager at Pimco. He also brings experience as a policy maker in Washington, having worked in the Bush administration and as a senior economist on President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers.

Both are expected to join the Fed at a critical time for the central bank as it gradually moves to raise interest rates and unwinds its multitrillion-dollar balance sheet. So far, Powell has offered an upbeat assessment of the economy's outlook.

The Fed has planned three rate hikes this year, but has signaled it could raise rates faster if the economy keeps getting stronger and inflation reaches the Fed's target.

"We could get four hikes if the growth in the economy is stronger because of the tax cuts," Clarida said in a interview with Bloomberg Television on December 13. "But importantly, also, you'd actually need some indication that inflation is moving up too quickly for the Fed's taste."

A graduate of Harvard University with a Ph.D. in economics, Clarida is best known for his work on how to use computer models to predict how the economy will react to shocks and policy changes. He's also done research on monetary policy rules, like those developed by John Taylor, a Stanford University economics professor.

Bowman has extensive Washington experience, too. Before taking over her family's Farmers & Drovers Bank in Council Grove, Kansas, in 2010, she served in top positions at the Department on Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the George W. Bush administration. She also worked as a congressional adviser to former Senator Bob Dole, a Kansas Republican.

Trump has made five nominations to the Fed board. One of his picks, Marvin Goodfriend, nominated in November, has yet to clear the Senate because of opposition by most Democrats and Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/16/news/economy/trump-federal-reserve-board-nominees/index.html

Senate panel approves nominations for 2 Fed board seats

by Associated Press

Published: Tue, June 12, 2018 11:03 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump's nomination of Columbia University professor Richard Clarida to be the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. The panel also approved the nomination of Kansas bank commissioner Michelle Bowman to fill another vacancy on the Fed's seven-member board.

If the nominations win approval as expected from the full Senate, they will fill two of the current four vacancies on the Fed board. Trump has the opportunity to remake the Fed board in his first two years in office by filling six of seven positions.

Clarida, an expert on monetary policy, would succeed Stanley Fischer in the Fed's No. 2 job. Bowman, the first woman to be the top banking regulator in Kansas, would take the board seat reserved for a community banker.

The committee approved Clarida's nomination on a 20-5 vote while Bowman was approved by a vote of 18-7. All the no votes were cast by Democrats.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and the top Democrat on the panel, voted against both nominations. He said he was unhappy with the responses both had made to written questions about their views on the need to enforce tougher bank regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.

"This administration is clearly targeting the (regulatory) framework put in place after the 2008 crisis," Brown said.

But Rob Nichols, president of the American Bankers Association, praised the committee's approval of both nominees in a statement and urged quick Senate consideration so that the central bank "can benefit from a full range of voices and perspectives."

Last year, Trump tapped Fed board member Jerome Powell, at one time the only Republican on the board, to succeed Janet Yellen as Fed chairman. He also selected Utah banker Randal Quarles for the position of vice chairman for bank supervision.

In wake of Quarles’ confirmation, White House wants Senate action on three other Fed nominees

July 18, 2018 The Fed 0

Following the Senate’s confirmation Tuesday of a 14-year term for one member of the Federal Reserve Board, the White House Wednesday called for immediate action on the three other board nominees now awaiting confirmation.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, in opening comments to a press briefing at the White House Wednesday, noted the confirmation by the Senate Tuesday of Randal Quarles to a 14-year term on the Fed Board. Following that, she said the president was calling on the Senate to act on the nominations of Richard Clarida (for vice chairman of the board), Michelle “Miki” Bowman and Marvin Goodfriend (as members of the board).

“There are still three more nominees to the Fed who have yet to receive a vote,” Sanders said. “It is inexcusable that Senate Democrats have delayed confirming the president’s nominees,” Sanders said, adding the White House urges the Senate to stop delays and take action.

Goodfriend’s nomination has been pending before the Senate since Feb. 8, when the Senate Banking Committee narrowly recommended his confirmation, 13-12, largely on partisan lines.

Clarida and Bowman were recommended for confirmation June 12, when the Banking Committee voted in executive session, approving Clarida on a vote of 20-5 and Bowman on an 18-7 vote.

https://www.regreport.info/2018/07/18/in-wake-of-quarles-confirmation-white-house-wants-senate-action-on-three-other-fed-nominees/

And I guess this is how we fill up the coffers for the new Fed/Treasury:

Executive Order Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption

Law & Justice

Issued on: December 21, 2017

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Public Law 114-328) (the “Act”), section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)) (INA), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the prevalence and severity of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, such as those committed or directed by persons listed in the Annex to this order, have reached such scope and gravity that they threaten the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons.

I therefore determine that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-blocking-property-persons-involved-serious-human-rights-abuse-corruption/