[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 74 (Thursday, April 29, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S2361]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REED (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mr. Brown, Mr. Van Hollen, 
        and Mrs. Gillibrand):
  S. 1474. A bill to reaffirm the importance of workers; to the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. REED. Today, I am joined by Senators Warren, Brown, Van Hollen, 
and Gillibrand to introduce legislation to ensure that at least one 
Federal Reserve Governor has demonstrated primary experience in 
supporting or protecting the rights of workers.
  Our legislation is not the first to require a member of the Federal 
Reserve Board of Governors to have a particular area of expertise. 
Indeed, as part of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization 
Act, which passed the Senate by a vote of 93-4 and was signed into law 
on January 12, 2015, Congress amended the Federal Reserve Act to 
require at least one of the seven Federal Reserve Governors to be an 
individual ``with demonstrated primary experience working in or 
supervising community banks.'' Our legislation would ensure that 
workers get the very same representation that community bankers already 
have on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
  As we all are aware, the Federal Reserve has a dual mandate of stable 
prices and maximum employment. Our bill is designed to better ensure 
that future Boards of Governors continue the current Board's focus on 
its full employment mandate as evidenced by its explicit 
acknowledgement last August in its revised Statement on Longer-Run 
Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy that ``maximum employment is a 
broad-based and inclusive goal.'' This reflects the Fed's 
``appreciation for the benefits of a strong labor market, particularly 
for many in low-and moderate-income communities,'' with policy 
decisions to be informed by the Board's ``assessments of the shortfalls 
of employment from its maximum level'' rather than by ``deviations from 
its maximum level'' as in its previous statement. While this may not 
seem like a huge difference, it is reflective of the Board's ``view 
that a robust job market can be sustained without causing an outbreak 
of inflation.''
  To put it more simply, this current Federal Reserve ``will remain 
highly focused on fostering as strong a labor market as possible for 
the benefit of all Americans,'' and our legislation seeks to ensure 
that future Federal Reserve Boards will continue to do the same.
  COVID-19 has shown us just how essential workers are to our economy 
and our physical well-being. We all know grocery store workers, nurses, 
firefighters, delivery workers, and other workers in both the public 
and private sectors who, despite the risk to their own health, have 
been literally holding together the fabric of our society and economy 
so that we can make it safely to the other side of this public health 
emergency. As such, they too deserve at least one member of the Board 
of Governors with demonstrated primary experience in supporting or 
protecting the rights of workers. I thank the AFL-CIO, Columbia 
University Professor and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, MIT Professor 
and Former International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Simon Johnson, 
and Georgetown Law Professor Adam Levitin for their support. and urge 
our colleagues to join in pushing to enact this legislation.
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