On identical bipartisan votes of 66-28, the seventh member of the Federal Reserve Board – giving the panel a full complement for the first time in years – was confirmed by the Senate Wednesday; a second vote confirmed him to a four-year term as vice chair for supervision.
The term for Michael S. Barr as a board member is for an unexpired term of 14 years that began Feb. 1, 2018 (running to 2032). As the top supervisor for the central bank, Barr would serve a four-year term (running to 2026).
Barr succeeds Randal Quarles in the vice chair post; Quarles was the first to hold the job. His four-year term ended last October; he resigned from the Fed Board in December.
Barr is a former Treasury official, having served in the administration of President Barack Obama (D) in the National Economic Council in the White House and as assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions – where, the White House said, he was a key architect of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank).
He most recently served as a law professor at the University of Michigan.