Senate Banking Committee

Pat Toomey, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee said Congress should weigh an overhaul of the U.S. Federal Reserve Regional Bank system and consider consolidating regional banks that are “wandering” into issues such as climate change.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin praised all five of President Biden's nominees for the Federal Reserve, an important signal for their confirmations in the 50-50 Senate.

Pat Toomey, the top Republican on the Senate Banking panel, questioned the backgrounds of President Biden’s Federal Reserve picks amid a brewing conflict over diversity at the central bank and its role in dealing with climate change.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold separate hearings next week for Jerome Powell on his nomination to a second term as Federal Reserve chair and for Lael Brainard’s elevation to vice chair.

Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, one of the crypto industry’s staunchest supporters in Congress, is planning to introduce a comprehensive bill next year that would cover everything from how digital assets are taxed and categorized to consumer protections. 

The White House is considering nominating Richard Cordray, who led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2013 to 2017, as the Federal Reserve's next vice chairman of supervision, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The Senate Banking Committee is considering hearings as early as December on the nominations of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for a second term as leader of the nation’s central bank and the elevation of Fed Gov. Lael Brainard to become vice chair.

Despite naming key leaders of the Federal Reserve this week, including renominating Chair Jerome Powell, the Biden administration delayed its pick for vice chair of supervision. Moving a nominee for the post later through the divided Senate could prove difficult, analysts said.

The Independent Community Bankers of America made the rare move of urging senators not to confirm Saule Omarova to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The group argued that some of her proposals could have drastic consequences for the industry.

Saule Omarova faces an uphill climb to confirmation as comptroller of the currency over concerns that she supports more government control of the banking system. Her hearing before the Banking Committee could be a make-or-break moment, observers say.