[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S1817]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Lisa DeNell Cook

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to join me in 
confirming Lisa Cook to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System.
  Dr. Cook hails from the Presiding Officer's home State of Georgia. 
She grew up in Milledgeville, GA, where my mother's college roommate--
during World War II, before she moved to Washington to be part of the 
war effort--was a roommate of my mother who is from Mansfield, GA, as 
the Presiding Officer knows. She roomed with someone from 
Milledgeville, GA.
  Lisa Cook has good smalltown values, good southern values. She now 
teaches at a great Midwestern State university with good midwestern 
values.
  She is unquestionably qualified, an economist with many years of 
experience. She is a graduate of Spelman. She was a Truman Scholar in 
England, something that very few Americans qualify for. It is a very 
small, elite, important program. She then got her Ph.D. at Berkeley.
  She brings a breadth of research and international experience on 
monetary policy, on banking, and on financial crises. In fact, she is 
one of the country's leading researchers on international economic 
growth and innovation economics.
  Dr. Cook currently serves as a dual-tenured professor of economics 
and international relations at Michigan State. She previously taught at 
the Kennedy School of Government. She served on the Council of Economic 
Advisers during the eurozone crisis and at the Department of Treasury.
  She is a historic nominee. If confirmed, she would be the first Black 
woman ever in the more than 100-year history of the Fed. Think about 
that. In 1913, the Federal Reserve began, created by this body and the 
House of Representatives, signed by President Wilson. So in 109 years, 
seven Governors on the Fed--most stay no more than 5 or 6 or 7 years--
and she will be the first Black woman to ever serve on the Federal 
Reserve.
  I am thrilled about this nomination. I am thrilled because of the 
diversity of gender and race but also--maybe especially--the diversity 
of experience. She knows, in her recognition, that workers should be at 
the center of our economy. She knows that workers drive our economic 
growth. She knows how important local communities are. She spent her 
formative years in the South and a significant portion of her career in 
the industrial Midwest. She has seen how the economy works and 
sometimes doesn't work so well for all different kinds of people in 
different parts of the country.
  She arrived on campus in East Lansing, MI, a few years before the 
financial crisis. She saw its impact on the students, the professors, 
the entire community. She takes that with her--that experience, that 
knowledge, that insight--to the Federal Reserve.
  That is an unusual thing for a Fed Governor. She has made it clear 
she is dedicated to Fed independence. She will uphold the Fed's dual 
mandate of maximum employment and price stability.
  Her nomination represents another example of the Biden 
administration's serious effort to make the economy work for everyone, 
not just those at the top. That is what especially makes her an 
outstanding nominee.
  It is a critical time for the Fed. We need Dr. Cook and other 
qualified nominees on the job immediately to fight inflation. Dr. Cook 
is unquestionably qualified. She possesses bipartisan support from top 
economists, former Fed Governors, bankers, civil rights organizations.
  Yet despite her broad support, a small but loud minority have wrongly 
claimed that she doesn't meet the standards for this position, 
standards that only seem to apply for certain nominees.
  Still, she has met and she has exceeded those high bars. She is a 
Ph.D. economist and a tenured professor. She is sought by organizations 
around the world for her input, for her knowledge, for her wisdom, for 
her perspective. She will bring a critical voice to the Fed, one that 
has been missing for far too long.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting Dr. Lisa Cook's 
nomination and getting her on the Board right away to help with our 
economic recovery.
  I yield the floor.