Lael Brainard's Steady Rise Could Culminate in Treasury Secretary Post.(Cabinet Watch!)
The Fed governor is seen as a top candidate for the job, though some progressives try to paint her as a centrist who was soft on China.
'When the Federal Reserve voted to “tailor” post-crisis financial regulations for all but the largest banks in October 2019, Gov. Lael Brainard cast the lone “no” vote.
At the long oval table in Fed’s board room, Ms. Brainard laid out — point by detailed point — why she thought the changes risked leaving relatively big banks with too little oversight. It was not an unusual dissent.
Ms. Brainard, a leading contender to be President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Treasury secretary, has opposed the Fed’s regulatory changes 20 times since 2018. As the sole Democrat left at the Fed board in Washington, Ms. Brainard has used her position to draw attention to efforts to chisel away at bank rules, creating a rare public disagreement at the consensus-driven central bank.
Yet Ms. Brainard’s position has not relegated her to the role of Fed gadfly. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed’s chair, often praises Ms. Brainard’s intellect in private conversations and has placed her in key roles at the central bank, including tapping her to play a major part in devising and overseeing the Fed’s emergency lending programs. Ms. Brainard joined calls with staff members and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Fed’s partner in planning those efforts, 21 times in April alone.
Mr. Powell, who was appointed by President Trump, even sided with her over the Republican comptroller of the currency when Ms. Brainard argued that a key community banking rule was being rewritten too hastily and based on too little data.
Ms. Brainard’s data-driven approach and quiet persistence have allowed her to maneuver effectively even while staking out a minority position at the Fed. That skill could make her an attractive pick for the Treasury’s top job. So could her experience as a former Treasury official who played a leading role in European debt crisis and Chinese currency deliberations. Negotiating chops would come in handy as the new administration tries to cut pandemic relief deals with what could be a Republican Senate.
But her status as a Washington insider brings its own vulnerabilities.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/business/economy/lael-brainard-treasury-secretary.html?
