Five democrats call for climate risk elimination, demand the replacement of Fed Chair Powell

Five House Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, called for President Joe Biden to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell when his term expires in February.

The joint statement issued by the five lawmakers, on Monday, was first reported by Politico. The lawmakers urged President Biden "to re-imagine a Federal Reserve focused on eliminating climate risk and advancing racial and economic justice."

“We urge the Biden Administration to use this opportunity to appoint a new Federal Reserve Chair,” they said.

Representatives Rashida Tlaib (Michigan); Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts), Mondaire Jones (New York), and Chuy Garcia (Illinois), joined Ocasio-Cortez, acknowledged the "positive changes" made by the Fed under Powell. 

They mentioned that Powell had "steered the central bank toward a greater emphasis on reaching full employment", but now demanded a leader who was more aggressive on financial regulation and climate change. The five lawmakers serve on the House Financial Services Committee.

The Democrats denounced the Fed's move to reduce banking regulations put into place after the financial crisis. 

“Weakening financial regulations that were specifically created to prevent such a disaster from happening again risk the livelihoods of Americans across the country,” they said.

The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that the lead contender to replace Jerome Powell as the Federal Reserve Chair, is Lael Brainard.

Picture Credits - Bloomberg/Getty Images

With inputs from MarketWatch