Senate confirms Adriana Kugler to Federal Reserve Board

Adriana Kugler will be the first Federal Reserve Board governor of Hispanic descent to be serve on the board after being confirmed to the position by a Senate vote of 53-45 on Thursday afternoon.

The confirmation was approved largely along party lines. Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined the Democratic caucus in supporting Kugler’s appointment. 

Kugler was the third Fed nominee approved by the Senate this week. On Wednesday, Gov. Philip Jefferson was confirmed to be the central bank’s next vice chair and Gov. Lisa Cook secured her second term on the board.

Once Kugler is sworn in, the Fed will have a full complement of seven governors for the first time since then-Vice Chair Lael Brainard resigned in February to become the director of the National Economic Council. 

Before the Senators cast their votes on Kugler’s nomination, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., noted the historic nature of her nomination and its significance to other Hispanic Americans. 

“For my colleagues who will soon cast their votes on her nomination, I’d just like to highlight what this means for the 62 million Latinos who call America home,” Menendez said. “Simply put, we ourselves reflected in her story and her nomination.”

Menendez has for years been a vocal advocate for someone of Hispanic heritage to be installed at the highest levels of the Federal Reserve System — either as a member of the Board of Governors in Washington or as president of one of the 12 Federal Reserve banks. He argued that the lack of representation amounted to “an affront” to Latino Americans.

Menendez added that Kugler was “eminently qualified” for the role of Fed governor, noting that 33 peer economists of various political persuasions submitted a letter to the Senate endorsing her.

“In addition to her qualifications and balanced approach to decision making, Dr. Kugler has demonstrated time and time again that she will uphold the Federal Reserve’s long legacy of independent decision making,” Menendez said. “It is precisely because those decisions affect every community in our country that I’m especially proud that Dr. Kugler will finally bring the lived experience of being Latino in the United States to the Federal Reserve’s leadership.”

Kugler is an economist by training, holding a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. She is executive director at the World Bank and served as chief economist for the Labor Department during the Obama administration. She also is a tenured professor of public policy at Georgetown University. 

Kugler is eligible to complete the remainder of Brainard’s term, which runs until January 31, 2026.

The Biden administration, Democrats in Congress and consumer advocacy groups have lauded this class of Fed nominees for its diversity.

Jefferson, who will become the second Black man to hold the position of Fed vice chair — following Roger Ferguson, who served in the role from 1999 to 2006 — after enjoying broad bipartisan support on the Senate floor this week. He was confirmed by a vote of 88-10.

Cook, meanwhile, becomes the first Black woman to be confirmed to a full 14-year term on the Board of Governors. She was confirmed on a narrower margin of 52-45, with Rounds, Collins and Murkowski crossing the aisle in support of her nomination.