WASHINGTON — Northwestern University Professor Janice Eberly is the front-runner in the White House search for a successor to Lael Brainard as vice chair of the Federal Reserve, people familiar with the matter said.
Eberly, who served as chief economist at the Treasury Department under former President Barack Obama, has emerged quickly as a candidate in the weeks since Brainard was picked as President Joe Biden’s top economic aide.
Eberly met recently for an interview with Jeff Zients, Biden’s chief of staff, as well as with Brainard and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a former Fed chair, one of the people said. A final decision has not yet been made, the people said.
One of the people said things are moving in her direction but Biden has yet to interview her.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday night.
The Biden administration has indicated that it wants to fill the crucial position relatively soon, as the U.S. central bank continues its aggressive campaign to quell inflation and opens the door to further, faster rate increases. Biden’s nominee must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that the White House would announce developments “in the near future.”
Some progressives are urging the White House to fill the vacancy with someone who would do more to defend the Fed’s mandate to support the labor market, and be less likely to push for further interest-rate hikes they warn could derail the economy.
The Fed has raised rates from near zero a year ago to a range of 4.5% to 4.75% to try to cool persistent price pressures. Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers this week rates are likely to move higher and potentially faster than officials previously expected if economic data keeps coming in hot.
Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, told Bloomberg Television this week that the administration wants to “find somebody who truly believes in the Fed’s dual mandate, somebody who believes in the president’s economic vision.”
Biden has also been urged to choose a Latino candidate to succeed Brainard, with 34 lawmakers signing a letter calling for such a trailblazing appointment.
Eberly, if nominated, could run into opposition from lawmakers who have pushed for more diversity among the Fed’s upper ranks, testing Biden’s support in the Senate.
Other names that have been in the mix for the role include Harvard University professor Karen Dynan, who along with Eberly was seen as a leading candidate for the position.
While Dynan also held a key role in the Obama administration, succeeding Eberly as chief economist at the Treasury, Eberly is seen as the more dovish of the two, Bloomberg Chief U.S. Economist Anna Wong wrote in a research analysis.
Dynan would be one of the Fed’s most hawkish voices, Wong projected. “Eberly, on the other hand, might be closer to Brainard in her optimism that the Fed can get inflation back to target without generating a significant slowdown in the labor market,” Wong wrote.
