Senate Banking Committee sets date for FDIC nomination hearing

Sherrod Brown Jon Tester
Senator Jon Tester, D-Mont., talks to Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in 2022. The Senate Banking Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing for Christy Goldsmith Romero — now serving as a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., but her ultimate confirmation will depend on unified support from moderate Democrats like Tester and progressive ones like Brown.
Bloomberg News

 

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee will consider the nomination of Christy Goldsmith Romero to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on July 11, the panel announced. 

Goldsmith Romero, who currently sits on the board of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was just recently announced as the Biden administration's pick to lead the FDIC in the wake of a workplace misbehavior scandal at the agency. 

The committee, in the same hearing, will also consider the nominations of Caroline Crenshaw to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kristin Johnson to be assistant secretary of financial institutions at the Treasury Department and Gordon Ito to be a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council with expertise in insurance. 

The Senate Banking Committee hearing marks the first official step in the process to confirming Goldsmith Romero's nomination — a race against the clock at this point with a limited number of legislative days left in Congress. Goldsmith Romero would replace current FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, who announced he would resign upon the confirmation of a successor. 

Should the nominations pass the Senate Banking Committee, they will go to the full Senate.

 

While Goldsmith Romero hasn't triggered any pushback so far from Republicans, the confirmation of her nomination is still far from guaranteed. 

Democrats have enough votes to usher her and the other nominations through the Senate, but only if they remain united in their support — including among those seeking reelection in vulnerable seats in the 2024 elections. Republicans have been unusually successful in sinking the nominations of the Biden administration's financial regulatory nominees in the past, pulling Democratic support, for example, from picks like Sarah Bloom Raskin and Saule Omarova

Should she make it through the confirmation process, Goldsmith Romero would inherit an FDIC that not only is still reeling from the public revelation about the agency's culture, but that has a busy regulatory schedule. 

On Thursday — in what could very well be Gruenberg's final board meeting as chairman —  the agency finalized a rule bolstering resolution plans for large regional banks. Other key rulemakings, like the Basel III endgame proposal, are still pending. 

Goldsmith Romero potentially would have only a limited number of months with a Democratic board. Should Donald Trump win the presidential election, Goldsmith Romero would not necessarily have to step down as chairman, but would be up against a 3-2 partisan split that would make governing the agency difficult.

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