Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the highest-ranking Latino in Congress, today voted in support of advancing Michael S. Barr’s nomination to serve as a Member and Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System after receiving a personal commitment from Mr. Barr to develop a transparent process with meaningful public input to ensure the Federal Reserve’s leadership better reflects the full diversity of America.
In the coming months, the Federal Reserve will have two new opportunities to consider and appoint a Hispanic or Latino American as the next president of either the Kansas City or Chicago Federal Reserve Banks. Sen. Menendez has been leading Congressional efforts to push the Federal Reserve to start a new chapter in its 108-year history in which Latinos will finally have a voice at the highest echelons of the Fed’s leadership.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE SENATOR’S FULL REMARKS]
Last month, Senator Menendez voted against the confirmation of Jerome Powell to serve a second term as Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors given the Federal Reserve’s failure under his leadership to appoint Latinos at the highest levels of the Fed’s leadership. He also led 21 colleagues from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in urging the Fed to choose a Latino candidate as the next President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, which was the most recent missed opportunity by the Federal Reserve to appoint a Hispanic or Latino American as president of a regional Federal Reserve Bank.
Below are Senator Menendez’s full remarks as delivered during the Senate Banking Committee’s Executive Session:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
“I rarely do this, but I have to say that in the 108 year history of the Federal Reserve there has never been one Hispanic appointed to the Federal Reserve. Not one to the regional banks to head the regional banks.
“Recently, the Federal Reserve had the opportunity to change that history. It had two qualified candidates. It didn’t choose one of them.
“60 million Americans of Hispanic descent. 18.4% of the American population. 2.3 trillion dollars of domestic GDP. And the Federal Reserve is making major decisions about this community, as well America as a whole, and yet we have no voice.
“Now, my friends at the Federal Reserve like to tell me that I should have faith, but faith that hasn’t been rewarded, faith that ultimately doesn’t lead us to see a change in the course of events after a century, and faith also in those who are making these appointments where there was an opportunity to make appointments that would reflect the full diversity of our Nation is you know faith that isn’t ultimately honored.
“So I’m going to vote for Mr. Barr because he made a personal commitment to at least pursue a process that can create the opportunity for a Hispanic American to be considered.
“There’s no guarantees that person would be appointed but to create a process, which the Federal Reserve itself should adopt as a whole, in order to break this century-plus period of time in which no one, no one from our community, despite 2.3 trillion dollar marketplace, ultimately has a say in.”
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