WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it intends to nominate Jerome H. Powell and Jeremy C. Stein to fill the two remaining vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board.
Powell previously served as Treasury undersecretary for finance under President George H.W. Bush and as a partner at The Carlyle Group. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he focuses on federal and state fiscal issues. Prior to working at Treasury, he was a lawyer and investment banker on Wall Street.
Stein, meanwhile, currently serves as the Moise Y. Safra Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught for the past 11 years. Previously, he was on the faculty of M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management for 10 years. He is also a coeditor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and is a member of the New York Fed's financial advisory roundtable.
"I am grateful that these individuals have agreed to serve their nation at this important time for our economy," President Obama said in a press release. "Their distinguished backgrounds and experience coupled with their impressive knowledge of economic and monetary policy make them tremendously qualified to serve in these important roles."
While the nominations would fill the vacancies on the 7-member Fed board, it is unclear how fast Congress will act. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has placed a hold on dozens of nominees, including those to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, because President Obama has forgone a pledge not to make a recess appointment.
