Biden prioritizing diversity when selecting next Fed Vice Chair sparks criticism: 'Sad & discriminatory'

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked Thursday about President Biden's selection process to decide who to nominate for vice chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve. In her response, Jean-Pierre said that Biden will prioritize diversity when considering potential nominees.

"On the search for Fed Vice Chair, can you talk about the decision-making process there with regard to how the president is considering diversity? There's been some pressure from senators to name a Latino candidate, for example. How much, how important is it to the president to name a woman or a person of color to that job?" a reporter asked during the White House's daily press briefing.

"So, I'll just first say that clearly filling that vacancy is something that's important to the president and we'll certainly nominate someone in the near future. When it comes to diversity, you've heard this from the president, you've heard this from me, you've heard this from many of us here, diversity and representation is really important to this president," Jean-Pierre responded.

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing in the James S Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2023.  (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

"We're going to look at, the president's going to look at, at a highly diverse group of world-class economists just as we did for the previous Fed nominations, so we're going to continue that process," she continued.

Jeane-Pierre went on to list statistics about the racial, gender and sexual diversity within the Biden administration.

"I want to take the opportunity to layout how diverse the president's cabinet has been, how diverse the president's administration has been. The cabinet is majority people of color for the first time in history. The cabinet is majority female for the first time in history. A majority of White House senior staff identity is female. 40% of White House senior staff identify as part of the racially diverse communities, and a record seven assistants to the president are openly LGBTQ-plus," she said.

"So again, this is something that the president prides himself on, that he actually has taken action to show the diversity of this administration, and so he will continue not just with this Fed Vice Chair occupancy but with any occupancy or any position that's within the White House," Jeane-Pierre said.

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President Biden, right, announces the nomination of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for a second four-year term, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building’s South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, Nov. 22, 2021. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Many centrists and conservatives criticized Jeane-Pierre's remarks for prioritizing immutable characteristics like race and gender instead of focusing on one's merit independent of such qualities.

Kaite Pavlich, a political commentator, tweeted "White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre says the next Fed Chair will be hired based on how diverse they are, not strictly on their experience with monetary policy. So, good luck with that America."

Tesla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk replied to her tweet, "Maximum skill with monetary policy is extremely important in this role! A bad Fed decision affects the lives of everyone."

"Sad & discriminatory in itself. Probably illegal too. Even worse some medical school admissions are based on culture/ethnicity vs merit & achievement, passion and perseverance. How do we create the best of the best to compete on a global level if we drop our standards," Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox medical contributor, tweeted.

"More forced American collapse due to pigeon holed unqualified diversity," Chris Clark, a conservative commentator, tweeted.

Tianna Lowe, a commentator for the Washington Examiner, tweeted, "Inflation is 3 times higher than what the Fed considers acceptable, and these dumbf*cks are talking about ‘diversity.’ Alright, Biden should nominate me, a female monetarist of color, otherwise he’s a hateful bigot."

The Federal Reserve building is seen Jan. 22, 2008 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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The Federal Reserve is the financial institution responsible for setting interest rates and using other monetary tools to impact inflation and employment. Its policies have a major impact on the cost of goods, value of the U.S. dollar, availability of credit, stock market, and various other financial outcomes. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that Biden is considering nominating Austan Goolsbee, a former Obama economic advisor, to replace Lael Brainard as the fed vice chair. Brainard is leaving her position to replace Brian Deese as head of the National Economic Council.