Senate Banking Committee approves Hill to lead FDIC

• Key insight: Hill's continued tenure at the FDIC isn't likely to change the agency's direction on bank policy. 
• Forward look: His nomination now goes to the full Senate, where he's expected to be confirmed. 
• What's at stake: Hill's policies at the FDIC have included rescinding ILC rules and pursuing policies that he has said will lower capital requirements for small banks. 

WASHINGTON — Travis Hill, President Donald Trump's nominee to permanently lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., passed through the Senate Banking Committee on a party-line vote. 

Hill's nomination hit an unexpected stumbling block in his confirmation hearing, as Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he might withhold his vote if Hill didn't produce a report showing the progress that the agency has made on the culture scandal at the agency. 

Last week, Kennedy said that a report released to his office showed that 26 employees linked to verified misconduct are no longer with the FDIC. 

"I am satisfied with the progress the agency is making," Kennedy said. "I intend to vote to confirm Mr. Travis Hill as FDIC Chairman." 

Hill's nomination was reported favorably to the full Senate in a 13-11 vote. He's expected to similarly receive a party-line vote and ultimately be confirmed by the upper chamber. 

Hill's confirmation will bring little in the way of change to the agency, as Hill has been serving as acting chair since former FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg stepped down in January. 

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Since taking the helm of the agency, Hill has repealed a Biden-era rule on industrial loan companies and proposed measures that he said would lessen regulatory burdens on small banks. The FDIC under his leadership has also made it easier for private equity to bid on failed banks, and he's said that the agency is working to implement stablecoin rules pursuant to the recently passed GENIUS Act. 

Democratic lawmakers voted against Hill's nomination. Senate Banking Committee ranking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said that she is unsatisfied with the information that the FDIC under Hill has released about the culture issues at the agency. 

"I have repeatedly requested copies of the monthly assessments conducted by the FDIC independent transformation monitor, a third party who was hired to track the agency's progress on its cultural improvement efforts," Warren said at the vote. "Not only has Mr. Hill failed to provide these documents to Congress, he has also explicitly blocked the independent monitor from sharing those reports with us." 

Warren said that her staff was able to get copies of those reports, and that they outlined a shortage of staffing in key offices meant to address the FDIC's workplace issues. 

"The reports are abysmal. The independent monitor found that parts of FDIC's action plan to resolve its cultural problems had been nullified by President Trump's policies, it found that 'the manner in which the FDIC communicates progress to FDIC staff, causes confusions and is at times inaccurate,' and two of the critical new offices that the FDIC set up to address its toxic workplace, the Office of Professional Conduct and the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, offices that Mr. Hill, himself, touted in front of this very committee as critical to the FDIC cultural improvement efforts, are understaffed."