Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Confirmation of Critical Nominees to The FTC, Federal Reserve, And More

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the progress that the Senate has made this week by confirming many critical Biden nominees, including Federal Reserve nominees Lisa Cook and Phillip Jefferson, as well as Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya . Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

It has been a productive week on the Senate floor when it comes to nominations. Earlier this week, the Senate finally confirmed a highly qualified and historic nominee to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors: Lisa Cook.

Coming from humble beginnings in rural Georgia—where her family fought segregation—Dr. Cook will be the first Black Woman ever to sit on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.  She’s a professor of economics at Michigan State, a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Advisory Board, and served as a Senior Economist in President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. She absolutely belongs on the board and I am glad she was finally confirmed.

Yesterday we also confirmed Alvaro Bedoya as a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, breaking a 2-2 deadlock that has kept the FTC from full strength for over a year.

Mr. Bedoya’s nomination is fantastic news for the American people: the FTC will be empowered to fight against price gougers, market manipulators, and go after bad actors using anticompetitive practices to drive up prices. We have been urging the FTC for instance, to look at market manipulation and price gouging when it comes to gasoline, and now they will have the ability to do so, because the Republican commissioners refused to move forward, but now we have a majority of Democrats on that commission.

 This week, the Senate also confirmed another Fed nominee, Phillip Jefferson, and secured democratic majorities on important labor-focused agencies, including the Federal Labor Relations Authority. We’ll soon start the process to confirm more Democrats to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Finally, later today the Senate will vote on Jerome Powell to serve another term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Few institutions are more important to help steer our economy in the right direction—and to fight inflation—than the Fed. Chairman Powell presided as Fed Chair during some of the most challenging moments in modern American history. I thank all my colleagues, particularly Senator Brown, Chairman of our Banking Committee, who have worked to move forward with this important nomination. 

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