March 16 (Reuters) - A key Senate panel late Wednesday gave its stamp of approval to President Joe Biden's renomination of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and two other nominees to the Fed Board, but it was deadlocked on a fourth nominee.
Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown, in remarks ahead of the vote, lauded Powell for his leadership of the Fed through the coronavirus pandemic and for his defense of the central bank's independence when Powell came under fire from Republican former President Donald Trump. Powell "has earned the opportunity to lead the Fed as chair," Brown, a Democrat, said.
The vote came just a few hours after Powell led the Fed in what is expected to be the first of a series of interest rate hikes this year to fight soaring inflation.
The panel also approved the promotion of Fed Governor Lael Brainard to Fed vice chair and the nomination of Philip Jefferson, an economist and the dean of faculty at Davidson College in North Carolina. Their names, along with Powell's, are now sent to the full Senate, which will have the final say on their confirmation.
But Republicans on the panel refused to endorse Lisa Cook, an economics professor at Michigan State University, whom Biden picked to be the first Black female Fed governor.
A tie vote does not end a nomination, but it complicates and potentially delays it in a 50-50 Senate that Democrats control only by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking position.
If Republicans in the full Senate are united in opposition, as they were against Cook at the Senate banking panel, she will need the backing of every member of Biden's party to gain confirmation.
On Tuesday, Sarah Bloom Raskin withdrew as Biden's nominee to become the top bank regulator at the Fed because she did not have that.
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