Biden OCC nominee Omarova set for rocky Senate hearing as GOP

WASHINGTON— Saule Omarova, President Joe Biden’s pick to be one of the nation’s top bank regulators, is expected to face a tough round of questioning Thursday morning from senators concerned by her research that explores fundamental changes to the financial industry.

The Cornell University law professor is scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee, where Republicans and at least one Democrat are likely to pepper the administration’s choice to be the comptroller of the currency.

Lawmakers are all but certain to grill Omarova over unconventional ideas she’s advocated, including magnifying the power of the Federal Reserve to include consumer banking and sweeping checks to the power of the likes of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

While Republicans, including Ranking Member Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, have long warned against recommending a candidate whose academic work calls to “end banking as we know it,” she has also faced skepticism from Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana.

Just one Democratic defection on a committee vote to recommend her to the broader Senate would likely end her nomination. And, even if she were to advance to the Senate with the committee’s endorsement, a single “nay” vote from Democratic ranks could doom her appointment.

Testimony is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning in Washington.

As one of the nation’s top bank watchdogs, the comptroller regulates about 1,200 banks with total assets of around $14 trillion, or two-thirds of the entire U.S. banking system. Its representatives work with big banks to ensure lenders are abiding by federal law, providing fair access to financial services and otherwise examining bank management.

Omarova has drawn fierce opposition from both the GOP and banking industry lobbyists, who say her ideas promote an excessive role for the government that would hurt business at lenders large and small.

“Dr. Omarova would relegate community banks to ‘pass through’ entities that hold their deposits on behalf of the Federal Reserve, effectively eliminating the community banking model,” American Bankers Association President Rob Nichols said in October. “We respectfully—but strenuously—disagree with those positions and believe they are out of step with the role for which she is being considered.”

Asked about that characterization, Omarova said in an interview that her academic works are just that: Exploratory and theoretical.

“I am not a caricature that I often see when I see coverage of myself,” she said via video chat Tuesday afternoon. “I know that difference between the job of an academic, and the freedom that academics have in terms of exploring ideas … and the job of a regulator, which is very circumscribed.”

“There is a statutory mandate for the agency, there is a specific toolkit, there are goals that Congress has set for…