McConnell to Biden: Pull 'radical and unacceptable' Fed nominee Raskin, who wants to 'raise gas prices'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called on President Biden to withdraw his nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Federal Reserve on Tuesday after Sen. Joe Manchin said Monday he can't vote for her. 

"There is bipartisan Senate opposition to Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Biden's radical and unacceptable nominee to the power Federal Reserve Board position of vice chair for supervision," McConnell, R-Ky., said. 

"At a time like this the Fed's independence is paramount," McConnell said. "But President Biden's nominee for this powerful seat has spent years campaigning to turn the Fed from a nonpartisan central bank into a far-left super-legislature that voters cannot get rid of. Explicitly and repeatedly she has called for the Fed to go about picking winners and losers in accord with far-left ideological goals."

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Manchin, D-W.Va., said Monday that he will oppose Raskin, all but dooming her nomination in the 50-50 Senate. There's no indication she will garner any GOP support. 

"[H]er previous public statements have failed to satisfactorily address my concerns about the critical importance of financing an all-of-the-above energy policy to meet our nation's critical needs," Manchin said. 

The White House and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Monday said they will still attempt to find GOP support for Raskin in an effort to salvage her nomination. A White House official called her "one of the most qualified people to have ever been nominated for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors" and said the administration is "working to line up the bipartisan support that she deserves."

But McConnell demanded that the White House cut its losses and try to find someone who can make it through the Senate.

MANCHIN OPPOSES SARAH BLOOM RASKIN FOR FED OVER ENERGY COMMENTS, DASHING PROSPECTS OF BIDEN NOMINEE

"Even before one considers the unanswered ethical questions… Biden's selection wildly missed the mark," McConnell said. "It's past time the White House admit their mistake and send us somebody suitable." 

Raskin would the second major financial regulator nominee from the president to go down in flames in four months. The president couldn't get enough support from Senate Democrats for comptroller of the currency nominee Saule Omarova last year, and she withdrew her nomination in December. 

Republicans say this amounts to a self-inflicted would for the administration. 

"The Biden administration needs to wake up and realize that this is a 50-50 Senate," a GOP aide told FOX Business. "If they choose to continue down their path of nominating self-proclaimed radicals and climate crusaders who want to dramatically reshape our independent financial regulatory system, it’ll be dark days ahead."

McConnell said in his Tuesday floor remarks that Raskin aimed to "take radical policy aims that liberals can't achieve through Congress and hard wire them into directly into our financial system." McConnell also alleged that Raskin would have wanted to "raise gas prices, raise home heating costs, and undermine the very institution of the Federal Reserve," if she was confirmed. 

Many of Raskin's past writings came back to haunt her in her confirmation process. 

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Among them, she said in the New York Times in May 2020 that the Fed "should not be directing money to further entrench the carbon economy" by lending to oil and gas companies under the CARES Act like other industries.

The central bank, she said, "is ignoring clear warning signs about the economic repercussions of the impending climate crisis by taking action that will lead to increases in greenhouse gas emissions at a time when even in the short term, fossil fuels are a terrible investment."

Senate Banking Republicans boycotted the committee meeting last month when Raskin was supposed to come up for a vote, denying Democrats a quorum. 

Now with bipartisan opposition to Raskin, it appears she will not be able to be confirmed even if committee Republicans lift that blockade. 

FOX Business' Edward Lawrence contributed to this report.