Five nominees move as a group under voice vote; Prospects for confirmation on the Senate floor are uncertain

The Senate Banking Committee on May 19, reported out five agency nominees, including two nominees for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Hester Peirce and Lisa Fairfax. The committee met in a brief executive session off the Senate floor.

The nominees were considered "en bloc" (as a group) under a voice vote, which does not allow individual senators to be recorded as voting yes or no. Nonetheless, six senators said they wished to vote "no" on the group: Republicans David Vitter (LA), Tim Scott (SC) and Ben Sasse (NE), and Democrats Robert Menendez (NJ), Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Heidi Heitkamp (SD). In addition to Peirce and Fairfax, the nominees in today's group included:

Amias M. Gerety to be assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions;

Jay Neal Lerner to be Inspector General the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC); and

Matthew Rhett Jeppson to be director of the U.S. Mint.

The committee had attempted to hold a similar en-banc vote on the same group of nominees on April 7, but the markup was suspended after Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Menendez said they wanted a recorded vote because of their objections to Fairfax's answers to questions about a potential SEC rule on corporate disclosure of political contributions. Sen. Warren also said she wanted to vote against Peirce because of her positions on financial regulation, and Sen. Scott said he wanted to vote against Fairfax.

The nominees now move to the Senate floor, where several observers have predicted the leadership is likely to bring them up as a group under unanimous consent, instead of allowing separate votes and time for debate. Considering the nominees under that procedure would allow any individual senator to block them with an objection.

In a statement, Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH) criticized the Banking Committee's Republican leadership for not moving more of the panel's backlog of nominees. "It is disgraceful that the Senate still hasn't confirmed any of the 20 nominations that the Banking Committee has received since the start of last year," Brown said. "These nominees are essential to promoting financial stability, protecting national security, and ensuring that American businesses of all sizes can compete on a level playing field with foreign competitors."

Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) has said he doesn't plan to hold a vote this year on the nomination of J. Mark McWatters to be a member of the Export-Import Bank's board. The Ex-Im Bank currently does not have enough board members to muster a three-member quorum, which is necessary to approve insurance, loans, or loan guarantees over $10 million. Shelby also has said he will not move the Federal Reserve Board nominations of Allan R. Landon and Kathryn M. Dominguez until President Obama nominates a deputy Fed chair for supervision, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act.

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