Senate panel backs Michael Barr, Biden pick as Fed regulator

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nomination of Michael Barr, President Joe Biden’s choice to be the top regulator on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, was approved by a congressional committee and sent on the full Senate. Barr, who served as a top Treasury Department official in the Obama administration, is considered likely to be confirmed by the full Senate. A confirmation vote would make him the third of Biden’s nominees to join the Fed’s board and would further solidify Biden’s stamp on the central bank. It would also fill the last of seven seats on the board just as the Fed is grappling with the worst inflation spike in four decades.