Raskin wrong for Federal Reserve post

In a recent oped, (March 4, “Norman Eisen: Toomey must heed Biden’s urgent call to confirm”) Norman Eisen asked Senate Republicans, including Pat Toomey, to overlook concerns about liberal activist Sarah Bloom Raskin’s nomination to the Federal Reserve and confirm her for a 10-year term.

A senator’s constitutional advise-and-consent responsibility for presidential nominees demands a thorough assessment of a nominee’s policy views and forthrightness. Ms. Raskin’s repeated calls for the Fed to expand, without congressional authorization, its limited mandate and speculate on climate change is troubling enough, but that is not why her nomination stalled.

Rather, it’s because she hasn’t been transparent about lobbying the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on behalf of a financial technology company on whose board she sat and from which she earned a $1.5 million cash-out. Ms. Raskin was evasive in her answers with Senators and senate staff, falling back, for example, with the standard Washington dodge, “I don’t recall,” 36 times.

As troubling as Ms. Raskin’s obstruction has been, equally troubling is her desire to take offline America’s abundant natural resources. Absurdly, Mr. Eisen argues Ms. Raskin should be confirmed “for the sake of our economy in a time of inflation, war and other crises.” But it is anti-American energy policies like Ms. Raskin’s that not only fuel the inflation Americans see at the pump and in utility bills but also offer leverage to the budding war criminal Vladimir Putin.

Since Ms. Raskin’s obfuscation may be a harbinger of how she would behave at the Fed, Sen. Toomey and Senate Republicans are right to demand answers and a complete record.

KEITH J. ROTHFUS Sewickley Mr. Rothfus served on the House Financial Services Committee between 2013 and 2019.