[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8776-8777]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

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NOMINATION OF STANLEY FISCHER TO BE A MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS 
                     OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, 
which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Stanley Fischer, of New 
York, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System for a term of four years.
  Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. President, I wish to speak in 
support of Dr. Stanley Fischer to be a member of the Board of Governors 
of the Federal Reserve System. While we are only voting on Dr. 
Fischer's nomination to be a member of the Board today, he has also 
been nominated to be Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, which we 
will need to vote on in the near future.
  As you all know, Dr. Fischer is a distinguished economist who is 
immensely qualified to serve on the Federal Reserve Board. In his two 
decades on the MIT faculty, he was primary adviser for 49 Ph.D. 
students, including former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and current 
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. In addition, he has 
previously served on the frontlines in making public policy decisions 
during periods of financial crisis--including as the head of the Bank 
of Israel during the last financial crisis. He is supported by experts 
from both sides of the aisle and respected by leaders throughout the 
world. His wisdom on the economy, monetary policy, and banking would be 
extremely valuable to the Board.
  It is important that we move quickly to confirm Dr. Fischer to the 
Board. Next week, the Federal Reserve Board will only have 3 out of 7 
confirmed Board members. In addition to Dr. Fischer, the Senate needs 
to quickly confirm Dr. Lael Brainard and Mr. Jerome Powell. There is a 
lot of work to do at the Board, including conducting monetary policy, 
drafting rules implementing Wall Street reform, and taking other 
actions to improve financial stability and economic growth, so it is 
important we fill the Board vacancies with highly qualified nominees 
like Dr. Fischer as soon as possible.
  I urge my colleagues to support Dr. Fischer.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, we yield back all of our time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Stanley Fischer, of Texas, to be a Member of the Board of Governors 
of the Federal Reserve System?
  Mrs. BOXER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to 
be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Missouri (Mrs. 
McCaskill) and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen) are 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from New Hampshire (Ms. Ayotte), the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. 
Boozman), and the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Coats).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 68, nays 27, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 160 Ex.]

                                YEAS--68

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Flake
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Walsh
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--27

     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Cochran
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Enzi
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johnson (WI)
     Lee
     McCain
     McConnell
     Moran
     Paul
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rubio
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Thune
     Toomey
     Vitter

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Ayotte
     Boozman
     Coats
     McCaskill
     Shaheen
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. The President 
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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