[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 5, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S3879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Lisa DeNell Cook

  Mr. President, Dr. Lisa Cook is a well-qualified economist who has 
served with distinction since having filled a vacancy last year on the 
Board of Governors. She brings a breadth of research and international 
experience in monetary policy, banking, and financial crises. Dr. 
Cook's expertise in international economics has immense value as we 
continue in our economic recovery amidst global inflation--global 
inflation that is higher in most of the rest of the world than it is 
here.
  Prior to joining the Fed, Dr. Cook taught economics and international 
relations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business 
School, and Michigan State University. During the Obama administration, 
she served on the Council of Economic Advisers as a senior economist 
and at the Treasury Department under the administrations of both 
Presidents Bush and Obama.
  She grew up in the South. She worked in the industrial Midwest, in a 
State just north of mine--Michigan. She understands the vital role that 
workers and local communities play in building a strong economy. I have 
faith in her judgment to set monetary policy that grows our economy 
from the middle out and the bottom up.
  Last year, her character was attacked, and her credentials were 
questioned. It was an unfair, underhanded attack on an eminently 
qualified woman of color. She has overwhelmingly proven her naysayers 
wrong. She has brought a level-headedness and data-driven focus to 
monetary policymaking.
  I would like to take a moment to thank Senator Rounds of South Dakota 
for his open-mindedness and support of her confirmation. He listened to 
her answers and looked at her record, and he enthusiastically supported 
her. I wish all of my colleagues would do that.
  She would be the first Black woman confirmed to a full 14-year term 
on the Federal Reserve Board--the first in over 100 years. This was 
started in 1913, and there has never been an African-American woman who 
has been reconfirmed. She would be the first.