San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly was considered by the Biden administration for a seat on the U.S. central bank’s board and she declined, according to two people familiar with the matter.
President Joe Biden has multiple opportunities to reshape the leadership of the Fed including the chair and two vice chair positions, and the White House is currently weighing candidates. Biden said earlier this month he will decide “fairly quickly” on the nominees.
Bloomberg News
As head of the San Francisco Fed, Daly leads the central bank’s largest district and already gets a rotating vote on the Federal Open Market Committee, the panel that sets rates at the central bank. A Ph.D. economist, she became president of the region in 2018 and started working there in 1996.
A spokesman for the San Francisco Fed had no comment and the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s term is up in February and Biden must decide whether to renominate him for a second term. Richard Clarida’s time as vice chair expires at the end of January and Randal Quarles is leaving the board at the end of the year. There is also a vacant seat on the board the administration can fill.
The San Francisco Fed and Daly have run afoul of the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania, after it declined to comply with a document request as part of an investigation into Fed research on topics including climate change and racial justice. Senate Banking Committee members are key to confirmation votes on Fed nominees.