Why Elizabeth Warren Has Opposed Fed Chair Jerome Powell Since 2018

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday tells the Senate Banking Committee that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is a “dangerous man” and vowed to oppose his renomination.

“Your record gives me grave concerns. Over and over, you have acted to make our banking system less safe, and that makes you a dangerous man to head up the Fed, and it’s why I will oppose your renomination,” Warren told Powell during a Committee hearing.

Powell has received broad bipartisan support since he was appointed chair by former President Donald Trump in 2017. However, his term ends in early 2022, leaving President Joe Biden with a tough decision to make.

Any changes Biden decides to make to the Federal Reserve could impact the entire economy at a time where high inflation and low employment activity are still present in the U.S. thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden has not given any indication on what decision he plans to make, but a Reuters poll revealed 36 out of 40 economists polled believe Biden would choose the status quo and keep Powell in his post.

This highly political decision has reignited opposition from Warren, who has opposed Powell since 2018, when she expressed concern that Powell would “help guard against another financial crisis,” urging her colleagues to reject his nomination.

Now Warren reaffirms her stance by arguing that Powell has been lucky but “the 2008 crash shows what happens when luck runs out.”

“The elephant in the room is whether you’re going to be renominated,” Warren said to Powell during the hearing. “Renominating you means gambling that, for the next five years, a Republican majority at the Federal Reserve, with a Republican chair who has regularly voted to deregulate Wall Street, won’t drive this economy over a financial cliff again.”

Other Democratic leaders like senior Democratic economist Joseph Stiglitz as well as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, have also been putting pressure on Biden to remake the Fed’s leadership.