Campaign News

A majority of House Democrats and eleven Democratic senators sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday, urging the Fed to improve the diversity of its top officials and increase the representation of consumer and labor groups in its ranks.

The letter, spearheaded by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the Senate and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in the House, argues that a lack of diversity of all kinds at the Federal Reserve undermines the central bank’s ability to represent the public.

The Fed’s control over monetary policy, the letter notes, gives it far-reaching influence over the economy. When the central bank decides to raise interest rates, it increases borrowing costs, putting downward pressure on job creation in order to keep inflation in check.

A Fed with fewer black and female decision-makers might be less attuned to the ways in which modest changes in the job market disproportionately affect African-Americans and women, both of whom suffer from employment discrimination.

“When the voices of women, African-Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected,” the letter states.

Boasting the signatures of 116 House Democrats, including all of the Democrats in the Congressional Black Caucus, the letter does not lack for evidence with which to critique the central bank.

Eighty-three percent of the board members of the regional Federal Reserve banks are white, and almost three-quarters of them are men, according to a Center for Popular Democracy study cited in the letter.

Just 11 percent of those board members represent consumer and community groups or labor organizations, the study states, while 39 percent come from the financial industry and 47 percent from other major business sectors.

When the voices of women, African-Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected.

Warren-Conyers letter to Janet Yellen

The congressional Democrats praised Yellen in the letter for prioritizing full employment since she has taken the helm in 2014. Yellen has presided over just one increase in the Fed’s benchmark rate in December, when the Fed raised it to a range of 0.25 to 0.5 percent from the near-zero level, where it had been since the 2008 financial crisis.

The letter also credits Yellen for promising to “consider” African-American candidates for open regional Fed president positions during her congressional testimony in February, and expressing “concern” that there has never been a black president of a regional Federal Reserve bank.

But just days after Yellen’s testimony, the Democrats note, the Fed announced it had approved the re-appointment of 10 regional Fed presidents, all of whom are white and eight of whom are men.

“Despite the importance of this decision, there appears to have been no public consultation, and limited transparency regarding the metrics and criteria used to evaluate the presidents’ performance, or in the decision to reappoint them,” the letter alleges.

Warren and Conyers’ letter is part of a broader push by progressive members of Congress, along with national activist groups and like-minded economists, to make Federal Reserve monetary policy a key component of the progressive agenda. They argue that the outsize influence of inflation-wary financial professionals on the central bank, plus sustained pressure from ideological conservatives in Congress, mean it’s time for liberals to be more vocal about their views.

The Fed Up coalition, an alliance of progressive groups headed by the Center for Popular Democracy, has led these efforts, which include a reform plan released in April that would transform the Fed into a wholly public entity, among other changes. (The 12 regional Fed banks are currently owned by private financial institutions.)

Fed Up said activists affiliated with its member groups made calls to members of Congress to encourage them to sign the letter.

Democratic hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was among the lawmakers who did so. Sanders also praised Fed Up’s April reform plan and released detailed proposals of his own for the central bank in December.

Fellow Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign implied that Clinton agreed with the letter’s key demands.

“Secretary Clinton believes that the Fed needs to be more representative of America as a whole as well as that commonsense reforms — like getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks — are long overdue,” Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said in a statement. “Secretary Clinton will also defend the Fed’s so-called dual mandate — the legal requirement that it focus on full employment as well as inflation — and will appoint Fed governors who share this commitment and who will carry out unwavering oversight of the financial industry.”

The remarks appear to be the most explicit comments to date by either Clinton or her campaign on the Democratic presidential front-runner’s vision for the Fed and the types of Fed officials she would appoint as president.

Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump’s presidential campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

Trump told CNBC last week that he would likely replace Yellen, who is the first female chair of the central bank, once her term ends in 2018. In the same interview, he said he supports low interest rates, a policy Yellen promoted that might be undone by a more conservative Fed chair.

Trump’s latest comments suggest a departure from claims he made in August, when he said the low rates were feeding a financial asset bubble.

By Daniel Marans

Source

Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 was the first U.S. President to use the phrase “my fellow Americans”in an Inauguration speech, according to historian Andrew Bergen, but over the years the catch phrase suggesting all of us being together, like a family, became so common that it lost its impact, if not meaning.

Read the full article here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 9, 2013

Contact: Kyle Serrette, Center for Popular Democracy (202) 304-8027, kyle@commongoodcenter.org

Thousands of Parents, Students & Teachers Join National Day of Action in Over 60 Cities Call for New Direction in Education Reform

On Dec. 9, a coalition of parents, students and teachers across the country participated in a National Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education. At town hall events, marches and rallies in over 60 cities they demanded a new direction in education reform, one that ends inequities, closes opportunity gaps, and ensures every child has the resources and opportunities to succeed.

For too long, education policy has been dominated by top-down mandates, high-stakes testing, mass school closures and a mantra of "no excuses" that disregards the impact of inequality, and austerity on students' opportunities to learn.

The Day of Action charts a new way forward to ensure excellent neighborhood schools for all children. Needed reforms include fair school funding, universal early education, wraparound services to meet students' academic, social and health needs, and support for teachers.

Public schools form the backbone of our democracy and ensure the country’s long-term economic success. For our schools to remain a robust public institution capable of meeting the needs of all children, policymakers must incorporate the voices of parents, students, communities and teachers in their decision-making.

The Day of Action grew out of an October conference in Los Angeles that was hosted in partnership by the National Opportunity to Learn Campaign, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and Communities for Public Education Reform. The new coalition of parents, students, teachers, labor and community groups that emerged developed the Principles That Unite Us, a guiding document that serves as blueprint for a new vision of education reform.

As part of the Day of Action, coalition members are asking individuals and organizations to sign on to the Principles  That Unite Us and to sign a petition asking policymakers to endorse the document.

A partial list of Day of Action events and media coverage is available at www.ReclaimPublicEd.org.

“Our communities have felt the pain of the disinvestment in public education for many years and we have fought to preserve it,” said Kyle Serrette, Director of Education for the Center for Popular Democracy. “Today, we are excited to intensify our struggle and build the power we will need to win.”

"This is a pivotal moment in public education across the nation and in New York. For too long, students have seen classes eliminated, resources dwindle and teachers cut. Compounded by excessive testing, New York’s students are missing out on the vital opportunities that are crucial for college and career success," said Billy Easton, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) in New York. "On Monday, AQE - in partnership with NYSUT, Citizen Action of NY, UFT & others - will be hosting events across the state to highlight the crisis our public schools are facing and uplift the solutions to get NY back on track to providing every student with a sound basic education."

"In Chicago, hundreds will deliver signed Holiday Cards stating 'What Chicago School Children want for the Holidays' to the Aldermen who have not supported the community in pushing for the City to declare a TIF Surplus to help reverse the severe budget cuts to neighborhood schools this year," said representatives from the Albany Park Neighborhood Council in Chicago. "Governor Quinn will also receive a wish list from parents, students, and community members on the need for an Elected Representative School Board and a stop on charter expansion when neighborhood schools are not being adequately funded."

“The OTL Campaign is proud to stand with parents and young people across the country as they work with teachers and community members to reclaim public education,” said John H. Jackson, President and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, which is the OTL Campaign’s parent organization. “It is time for our country to shift from standards-based reform to policies that ensure every student has access to the resources and supports they need.”

For more information on the National Day of Action, visit www.ReclaimPublicEdNow.org or contact Kyle Serrette at (202) 304-8027.

National organizations sponsoring the Day of Action include: Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Annenberg Institute for School Reform Center for Popular Democracy Dignity in Schools Coalition Gamaliel Network Journey for Justice Alliance (J4J) Leadership Center for the Common Good League of United Latin American Citizens National Education Association (NEA) National Opportunity to Learn (OTL) Campaign Service Employees International Union

Taipei Times - November 16, 2014 - US labor and community organizers meeting with US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen challenged officials who are ready to raise interest rates to first come visit the poorest neighborhoods with them before saying that the economy has recovered.

Kati Sipp, one of about two dozen activists meeting Yellen, said at a press conference on Friday in front of the central bank in Washington that she would show Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser “what life is like in this economy” for his city’s unemployed.

“Clearly Charles Plosser hasn’t been coming out the way that I work,” Pennsylvania Working Families director Sipp said. “I work on 60th Street in West Philadelphia in a storefront office and every single day someone or a couple of people come in to my office because they are looking for work.”

Members of the group met with Yellen and Fed governors Stanley Fischer, Jerome Powell and Lael Brainard. The coalition of 20 community groups, labor unions and religious leaders from around the US wants the Fed to hear the concerns of ordinary US residents as it prepares to raise rates. It is part of wider public pressure, including from legislators of both parties, who want more accountability and transparency from the central bank.

The Fed has been criticized by Democratic and Republican party groups over its rescue of big Wall Street banks in the financial crisis that began in 2008, and over subsequent steps to support the economy through zero interest rates and massive bond purchases.

The group meeting with Yellen and her colleagues on Friday included individuals struggling to find work despite the improving economic picture in the US, Ady Barkan, senior staff attorney at the Brooklyn-based Center for Popular Democracy, one of the organizers of the meeting, said in an interview.

“They all listened very intently and asked questions,” Barkan said of Yellen and the three governors. “They were very interested in hearing about the personal stories of the folks we brought.”

Barkan said Rounds told the Fed officials that “sky-high unemployment” in the St Louis area had contributed to “desperation” in the town.

Another speaker was Shemethia Butler, an unemployed woman from Washington. She recounted for Yellen how she was laid off from a job that offered no paid sick days after becoming ill and missing time at work, Barkan said.

The jobless rate has fallen to 5.8 percent from a 26-year high of 10 percent in October 2009. Interest rates have been held near zero since December 2008 and most Fed officials project that they will raise borrowing costs sometime next year.

Still, millions of US citizens can find only part-time work, while average hourly wages have risen at about a 2 percent pace for the past five years, barely outpacing inflation.

“The economy is not working for the vast majority of people,” Barkan told reporters before the meeting in front of the central bank headquarters facing the National Mall. “It’s too important of an institution to be controlled and dominated by big banks and corporations, rather than the public.”

In addition to low rates to help the unemployed, the groups are pushing for a more open and transparent search process for regional bank presidents that includes more community input. Barkan said the group asked Yellen for support in arranging meetings with each regional Fed president.

While formal changes to the process of selecting regional Fed leaders would require legislation, Barkan said the Fed board of governors held significant informal influence over the process.

“I’m sure they could change the process if they wanted to,” he said.

Plosser and Richard Fisher of Dallas both plan to retire next year and the “Fed Up” coalition wants more public input in naming their successors. Both banks have said they have hired executive search firms to find candidates.

Economist Josh Bivens, research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, said the Fed’s willingness to arrange the meeting was “incredibly encouraging” because the central bank “is one of the most important institutions in the world, but few Americans know it.”

While the unemployment rate has declined to a six-year low, there remains “too large a gap between today and a healthy economy,” he said, adding that stakes are highest for disadvantaged groups, including African-Americans. Their unemployment rate tends to be twice as high as the broader US level both “in good times and in bad,” Bivens said.

Source