[Pages S3216-S3217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Michelle Bowman

  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the nomination 
of Michelle Bowman to be the Federal Reserve Board's Vice Chair for 
Supervision.
  Governor Bowman has served on the Federal Reserve Board since 2018 
when she was confirmed as the first Governor required to have community 
bank experience, but during her tenure, she has consistently 
prioritized Wall Street over Main Street. She has weakened safeguards 
on the largest banks in the country and has opposed commonsense rules 
to promote financial stability, to protect consumers, and to drive 
investment in communities across this country.
  Just yesterday, in another Wall Street giveaway, she voted to lift 
the asset cap that was placed on Wells Fargo in an effort to rein in 
Wells' decades-long track record of customer abuses. She did this 
despite the fact that there is no public evidence that Wells Fargo has 
substantially changed its approach to banking.
  Governor Bowman's actions have already imposed serious costs on small 
businesses and families. It would be especially dangerous to put her in 
charge of further deregulating Wall Street now just as President Trump 
has pushed the economy to the edge of a cliff.
  Democrats on the Banking Committee unanimously oppose her nomination 
as Vice Chair for Supervision, and I urge all of my colleagues, 
Democrats and Republicans, to do the same now.
  In the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal 
Reserve Board effectively abdicated its statutory role as a financial 
regulator and supervisor. As a result, the Agency was asleep at the 
wheel as dangerous risks built up in the financial system, especially 
in the subprime mortgage market. When the economy tumbled, families, 
small businesses, and even community banks suffered the consequences of 
the Fed's negligence.
  Congress established the Vice Chair for Supervision position after 
the 2008 financial crisis in order to ensure that the Fed never again 
ignored its financial regulation and supervision responsibilities, but 
in her 6 years on the Federal Reserve Board, Governor Bowman has hacked 
away bit by bit at the safeguards put in place after the 2008 financial 
crisis. Let's take a look at her record.
  Governor Bowman has weakened critical safeguards for the largest Wall 
Street banks. She has voted to reduce big banks' loss-absorbing capital 
requirements, and she has voted to undermine the stress testing 
framework, both of which have left big banks more vulnerable to 
collapse. She has also voted to allow big banks to gamble with people's 
deposits in financial markets, including through increased investments 
in hedge funds and private equity funds. These actions have allowed 
Wall Street banks to take on riskier bets and juice their dividends, 
boost their buybacks, and pump up executive compensation--all at the 
expense of financial stability.
  Bowman also voted to deregulate massive banks with $100 billion to 
$250 billion in assets. That particular error in judgment came back to 
bite our country quickly, causing the second, third, and fourth largest 
bank failures in U.S. history just a few years later when these three 
deregulated banks--First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and 
Signature Bank--all failed within weeks of each other in 2023. For a 
while, the entire banking system teetered on the edge of collapse.
  Now, instead of learning from that near catastrophe, Governor Bowman 
has refused to take any responsibility for her votes that led to this 
banking turmoil, and she has opposed commonsense rules to strengthen 
the resilience of large banks even after those failures.
  Governor Bowman also voted to approve more than 800 bank merger 
applications, including Morgan Stanley's major acquisition of E*TRADE 
and Capital One's recent acquisition of Discover, which created the 
largest credit card company in America. Her lax approach to bank 
mergers undermines competition and increases concentration in the 
banking sector. That, in turn, inflicts costs on consumers and 
threatens the stability of the entire banking system. It also poses a 
direct risk to the future of community banks in this Nation.

  In addition, Governor Bowman opposed even modest improvements to the 
Community Reinvestment Act. This is a 50-year-old law that was created 
to prevent racist lending practices by big banks and to ensure that all 
communities have access to critical financial services.
  Last year, she was the only Fed Governor--the only one--to vote 
against a rule that would have updated the CRA regulations for the 
first time in nearly 30 years and would have increased banks' 
investments in communities of color, in rural and Native communities, 
and in other low- and moderate-income areas.
  Beyond her deeply troubling policy record, Governor Bowman also 
demonstrated a worrisome lack of independence from the White House 
during her nomination process. For example, at her hearing, she refused 
to acknowledge any economic uncertainty created by President Trump's 
tariff policies, and she refused to concede any potential financial 
impact of those policies on U.S. financial stability. That refusal puts 
her at odds with Chair Powell, with the Fed staff, and with economic 
experts across the political spectrum. It was clear that Governor 
Bowman did not want to be seen even indirectly criticizing President 
Trump.
  Ms. Bowman also stated that she plans to submit regulatory actions to 
the White House for review, which undermines the Fed's independence and 
all but guarantees a new deregulatory bonanza for these Wall Street 
banks.
  She has refused to answer questions about whether she met with then-
President Elect Trump or his transition team while on an official 
Federal Reserve-funded trip to West Palm Beach in November 2024.
  Look, our economy is in a precarious moment. President Trump's 
disastrous mismanagement of this economy is raising costs for families, 
is putting jobs at risk, and is threatening to decimate small 
businesses across this country. Deregulating Wall Street right now 
would throw gasoline on Trump's economic fire. The last thing families 
and small businesses need is another massive financial crash.
  I urge my colleagues to oppose Michelle Bowman's nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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