The Senate on May 10 approved a President Joe Biden nominee to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (Fed), with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote.
Every Republican in the upper chamber voted against Lisa Cook’s nomination. Every Democrat and nominal independent voted for the nomination.
Harris, as president of the Senate, stepped in and broke the tie—the 18th time she’s done so since taking office.
Cook, who will leave her position as a professor at Michigan State University, had been blocked by Senate Republicans.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a floor speech before the vote that Cook “is grossly unqualified” to serve on the board, noting that most of her work at the university has dealt with international relations, not economics, and that none of her publications concern monetary economics.
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