Dozens of lawmakers urge Biden to name Latino to Fed board

Thirty-four U.S. lawmakers urged President Joe Biden to appoint a Latino to fill the vacancy created on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors by the resignation of Vice Chair Lael Brainard.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, led by Robert Menendez, senator from New Jersey, called for what would be the first appointment of a Latino to a top leadership position at the central bank in a letter sent Friday to Biden.

“Despite being the United States’ largest and fastestgrowing minority population, Latinos have been persistently underrepresented at the Federal Reserve,” the lawmakers wrote.

“The appointment of a qualified Latino candidate to the Board of Governors would be a critical step in bringing diverse perspectives to our nation’s central bank.”

To fill the vacancy, Biden could appoint a new vice chair or could elevate a current governor to that position and then name another candidate to fill the governor post.

Though some strides have been made in recent years, the Fed has long lacked diversity, especially among its leaders and the economists that help shape policy.

Last year, Biden appointed Lisa Cook, the board’s first Black female governor, while the Boston Fed selected Susan Collins, the first Black female head of a reserve bank, as its new president.

At the Fed’s board in Washington, just 5 percent of employees are Hispanic. Among the economists, 7 percent are Latinos, who overall make up 19 percent of the U.S. population. No Asian American has been in a leadership position at the Fed, either.

The lawmakers’ effort is the latest step in a years-long push by Menendez and other members of the caucus to elevate a Latino to a top spot at the Fed.

Lawmakers made similar calls recently when the Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Kansas City reserve bank presidencies were vacant.

A larger group of senators, led by Menendez, wrote a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell in June following the announcement of the Dallas Fed’s new president, who is not Latino, asking the central bank to take measures to help ensure a more standardized and transparent process for appointing leaders at the 12 reserve banks.

The Dallas Fed district about 40 percent Latino.