Senate GOP delays votes on Fed nominees, but FDA pick confirmed

Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee boycotted a vote Tuesday on President Joe Biden’s five nominees to the Federal Reserve, delaying indefinitely the confirmation of Chairman Jerome Powell to a second fouryear term.

Democrats control the committee, but because no Republican attended the session, votes couldn’t take place under the panel’s rules.

The boycott stemmed from Republican opposition to Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Fed governor and deputy Treasury secretary under President Barack Obama whom Biden picked to be the Fed’s top banking regulator.

The Senate also narrowly confirmed pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, pushing past a thicket of political controversies that threatened to derail what was initially expected to be an easy confirmation.

The 50-46 vote means Dr. Robert Califf, a cardiologist and prominent medical researcher, will again lead the powerful regulatory agency, which he briefly headed during the end of President Barack Obama’s administration.