WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Wednesday is expected to confirm Michael Barr to the Federal Reserve Board and as the central bank’s top banking regulator, a role in which he is set to bolster some rules that were eased during the Trump administration.
Senators will hold a confirmation vote on Barr’s nomination to the Fed Board on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., followed by a procedural vote on his nomination to be the Fed’s vice chair of supervision. At 2:30 p.m., the Senate will hold a confirmation vote on Barr to take the Fed’s top banking cop job.
The votes follow broad bipartisan backing in the Senate Tuesday on a motion to limit debate on his nomination as Fed governor, and are expected to pass.
The Fed is raising interest rates sharply to bring down inflation that’s running at a 40-year high, and Barr will join as the seventh and last member of the Fed’s Board who, along with the Fed’s 12 regional bank presidents, decide every six weeks exactly how much policy tightening to deliver.
It is unclear if Barr could be sworn in in time for the Fed’s next policy-setting meeting at the end of this month.
As vice chair of supervision, Barr’s to-do list will likely include revisiting rules for banks that were eased under his predecessor, Randal Quarles. The Fed has been without a point person on regulation since Quarles, a Trump appointee, left the role last October after four years.
Barr is also expected to use the powerful role overseeing the country’s largest lenders to step up efforts on other issues dear to the Biden administration such as climate change risk, as well as addressing other rapidly evolving areas like fintech and cryptocurrencies.
(Reporting by David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
