Fed Says Jefferson, Cook, Kugler Sworn In to Board Positions

(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve said Philip Jefferson was sworn in as vice chair while Lisa Cook and Adriana Kugler took oaths as governors.

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Fed Chair Jerome Powell administered the oaths that took place at the US central bank’s headquarters in Washington on Wednesday, the Fed said in a statement. With Kugler now sworn in, the Fed board will have a full slate of seven members heading into its policy meeting next week.

Jefferson — the fourth Black male governor on the Fed board — will be the second Black vice chair after Roger Ferguson. He was confirmed in a 88-10 vote last week. Cook — whom President Joe Biden named as a governor on the board last year and whose current term expires in January — was endorsed for a full term in a 51-47 vote on the same day.

The Senate confirmed Kugler to the board in a 53-45 vote last Thursday, approving the central bank’s first Hispanic policymaker and capping a Biden administration diversity push at one of the world’s most powerful economic institutions.

Kugler’s nomination followed years of lobbying by Democratic Senator Bob Menendez for Biden to name a Hispanic member to the board. The New Jersey Democrat has pointed to the contributions Hispanics have made to the economy and has argued they deserved a seat at the table where key decisions are made.

The US central bank is widely expected to hold rates steady at its meeting next week, though investors are divided over whether it will follow that up with a rate increase later in the year.

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