Woodkirk Stone
When facing a room full of U.S. Senators – some of whom have suggested she is a Communist – Willow Omarova, President Biden’s choice to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, will come forward declaring that she loves two. things: American capitalism and community banks.
Ms Omarova, a professor at Cornell Law School, embarked on a difficult road to confirmation on Thursday as the head of the regulator overseeing national banks. Shortly after her appointment, bank lobbyists launched an unusually virulent campaign against her, echoing critics who cited her birthplace – Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic – as a reason to question her loyalty to the states. -United.
Bankers claimed that her academic writings proved that she was on the verge of replacing the banking system with a government-run alternative. Even members of the Senate Banking Committee, where Ms. Omarova is due to appear, joined him in questioning his point of view :.
In a prepared opening statement posted on the Senate Banking Committee’s website on Wednesday, Omarova presented her track record in the opposite light. She grew up, she says, with a grandmother who was orphaned when Stalin sent her family to Siberia for refusing to join the Communist Party.
She described government as a child as an “oppressive state system with no free enterprise and no economic opportunity for people like me.” Her ultimate dream, she said, became “to come to America – the land of opportunity and freedom.”
Ms. Omarova also pledged to “ensure a fair and competitive market where small and medium-sized banks that invest in the homes and small businesses of their neighbors can thriveâ€. She added that her mission would include “preserving and promoting the banking relationship that stimulates economic growth and creates jobs and prosperity at the local level.” Twice in the remarks, Ms. Omarova pointed out that she had worked for a Republican president, George W. Bush.
If confirmed, Ms Omarova will lead the regulator that banks are seeking to clarify how they can participate in cryptocurrency markets, as well as how they can compete more successfully with non-bank financial technology companies or fintechs. She is most likely to craft new rules for the decades-old anti-redlining law, the Community Reinvestment Act, and should help carry out Mr Biden’s stated mission of getting the financial sector to tackle economic inequality. and climate change. .
Thursday’s hearing is just the first of several hurdles Ms Omarova must overcome. The committee will vote on her nomination later, and if approved there, she will face a full Senate vote.