Senate panel approves nominations for two Fed seats

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump’s nomination of Columbia University professor Richard Clarida to be the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. The panel also approved the nomination of Kansas bank commissioner Michelle Bowman to fill another vacancy on the Fed’s seven-member board.

If the nominations win approval as expected from the full Senate, they will fill two of the current four vacancies on the Fed board. Trump has the opportunity to remake the Fed board in his first two years in office by filling six of seven positions.

Clarida, an expert on monetary policy, would succeed Stanley Fischer in the Fed’s No. 2 job. Bowman would take the board seat reserved for acommunity banker.

The committee approved Clarida’s nomination on a 20-5 vote while Bowman was approved by a vote of 18-7. All the no votes were cast by Democrats.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and the top Democrat on the panel, voted against both nominations. He said hewas unhappy with the responses both had made to written questions about their views on the need to enforce tougher bank regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.

“This administration is clearly targeting the (regulatory) framework put in place after the 2008 crisis,” Brown said.

Rob Nichols, president of the American Bankers Association, urged quick Senate consideration so that the central bank “can benefit froma full range of voices and perspectives.”

Trump also has nominated Marvin Good friend, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, for an empty board seat, but that nomination is facing strong opposition from Democrats concerned about Goodfriend’s past support for efforts to limit the Fed’s independence.