Aurelia Butler

(Reuters) – Signaling U.S. President Joe Biden’s picks for the Federal Reserve may face a tough confirmation process in the closely divided Senate, Republican Senator Pat Toomey on Tuesday raised questions over whether they fairly represent the nation.”I write to express my concerns with the significant lack of diversity in geography and professional experience in your recent slate of nominees to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,” Toomey, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told Biden in a letter made public by Toomey’s office. Biden late last year renominated Fed Chair Jerome Powell and picked current Governor Lael Brainard to be Fed vice chair. Earlier this month he nominated former Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the central bank’s vice chair for supervision, and two Black economists, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to the Board.Those choices would make the seven-member Fed Board the most diverse, by race and gender, it has ever been. But by profession and region, Toomey said Tuesday: not so much.All but one, Michigan State University’s Cook, are from the Richmond Fed district, Toomey said in the letter. There are 12 Fed districts covering the country. And most, he said, are from academia.Toomey reserved his sharpest comments for Raskin, saying she has “demonstrated hostility” toward the oil and gas sector, making her “unacceptable.” The banking committee must approve Fed nominees before they are considered by the full Senate, and held confirmation hearings for Powell and Brainard earlier this month.Toomey said at the time he planned to support Powell’s renomination, but his and other Republicans’ questioning of Brainard suggests an uphill battle for other nominees.Toomey released the letter as Powell convened the first Fed policy setting meeting of the year, during which it is expected to begin to chart a path toward higher interest rates and a smaller balance sheet after two years of super-easy monetary policy to fight the pandemic recession.DIVERSITYSenators have historically accepted a wide range of interpretations of the Federal Reserve Act’s requirement that no more than one Fed governor shall be “selected from any one Federal Reserve district,” says Fed historian Kaleb Nygaard, a sernior research associate at Yale’s Financial Stability Program.Some have had to reach back to birth or early childhood to establish a connection with a Fed district not already “taken” by a sitting governor. In 2011, Senator Richard Shelby, helped sink one Fed nominee, Nobel Prize laureate Peter Diamond, in part on the basis of his place of residence.”It’s completely appropriate for the Senate to ask and the White House to have to defend their picks based on geography,” Nygaard said, referring to the governing law.Senate Banking panel chair Sherrod Brown expects to hold confirmation hearings for the Board seats next month. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. House of Representatives leaders on Tuesday unveiled a bill aimed at increasing U.S. competitiveness with China and supporting the U.S. chip industry, including $52 billion to subsidize semiconductor manufacturing and research.President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing to persuade Congress to approve funding to help boost chip production in the United States, as shortages of the key components used in autos and computers have exacerbated supply chain bottlenecks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the 2,900-page bill, called the “America Competes” act, would “supercharge” investment in chips and boost U.S. manufacturing and research capacity, as well as advancing U.S. competitiveness and leadership.The Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act last year, which includes $52 billion to increase U.S. semiconductor production and authorizes $190 billion to strengthen U.S. technology and research to compete with China.The House bill has key differences with the Senate version. It does not contain the $190 billion for technology and research, but does include $45 billion to support supply chain resilience and manufacturing of critical goods, industrial equipment and manufacturing technology. Funding could be used to “relocate a manufacturing facility out of countries of concern, including countries that pose a significant economic or national security threat to the United States,” the House said. The government could use funds to establish stockpiles to provide “reserves necessary to maintain the availability of critical goods during supply chain shocks.”The House is expected to take up its version next week. If it passes leaders of both chambers will negotiate to resolve differences.”We’re in an all-out race for the jobs of the future and to protect our country’s global technological edge,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.President Joe Biden said the House and Senate proposals represented the “transformational investments in our industrial base and research and development” that helped power U.S. global economic leadership in the 20th century.The House bill also includes a number of trade provisions and would impose additional sanctions on China for its treatment of Uyghurs and offer refugee status for qualifying Hong Kongers. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.The bill also reauthorizes and revises Trade Adjustment Assistance programs, which help workers whose jobs or pay is hurt by imports, and reforms the Generalized System of Preferences, a preferential tariff system for imports.In addition, it would create a government review led by the U.S. Trade Representative to potentially block certain outbound investments made by U.S. companies in China and some other countries.Opposition from business groups led the Senate to scratch similar language last year. The absence of such a measure, intended as one safeguard to help prevent U.S. taxpayer funds supporting semiconductor and other critical technology industries from being rerouted to overseas competitors, was seen by some lawmakers as a serious flaw in the Senate bill.The House bill would review “offshoring of critical capacities and supply chains to foreign adversaries and non-market economies, like China and Russia.”It would also authorize $3 billion to fund “a domestic solar manufacturing supply chain”, supporting the construction of new solar manufacturing capacity.The bill would also give the Commerce Department the ability to impose tariffs if a government provides subsidies to a company operating in a different country, aimed at addressing China’s “Belt and Road Initiative.” More

USTR said the review, part of its first-ever focused strategy against forced labor, will seek input from labor organizations, forced labor survivors, civil society and private sector groups.The agency said it will also work with the World Trade Organization and trading partners Mexico, Canada and the European Union to advance work aimed at ending forced labor and forced child labor. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House plans to host the chief executives of major U.S. companies including auto and tech sector firms on Wednesday to discuss President Joe Biden’s signature $1.75 trillion Build Back Better legislation.General Motors (NYSE:GM) CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor (NYSE:F) CEO Jim Farley, Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) co-CEO Marc Benioff, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) President Brad Smith, Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) CEO Josh Silverman, Siemens Corp CEO Barbara Humpton and Corning (NYSE:GLW) CEO Wendell Weeks are among those who will take part.A White House official said Biden “will meet with CEOs who support passing Build Back Better to discuss the ways his (BBB) agenda will make the U.S. economy more competitive, increase worker productivity and workforce participation, lower inflation over the long-term, and strengthen business growth.”Biden made a push in December to win passage in Congress of the spending bill that would provide billions of dollars to tackle climate change and boost electric vehicles along with money for universal preschool, paid family leave and other social safety spending.Biden on Tuesday touted GM’s announcement of a new $7 billion investment in Michigan, adding 4,000 jobs and boosting electric vehicle and battery manufacturing.Biden’s proposal would increase the current $7,500 EV tax credit to up to $12,500 for union-made U.S. vehicles as well as creating a credit of up to $4,000 for used vehicles. The bill would also again make GM and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc eligible for tax credits after they hit the 200,000-vehicle cap on the existing $7,500 credit.The $4,500 union EV credit has come under heavy criticism from foreign automakers like Toyota.The bill also includes a 30% credit for commercial electric vehicles. Build Back Better would also allocate $3.5 billion for converting U.S. factories for production of electrified or fuel cell vehicles and revive incentives that could generate $3.7 billion for automotive communities by 2031.Auto manufacturers could also benefit from $3 billion allocated to a Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program.Biden wants 50% of new U.S. vehicles to be electric or plug-in electric hybrid by 2030. More