WASHINGTON — Four senators are calling on President Trump to act “quickly" to fill Democratic slots on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s board and on the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Traditionally, two of the five FDIC board members are nominated from the party other than the president's. One of the inside FDIC board members serves as vice chairman.
The senators, all Democrats, say that the Trump administration and the Republican-led Senate have moved forward Republican nominees but are moving too slowly to appoint members for seats from the other party. As a result, some agencies lack fully functioning commissions or boards, they said.
“Unfortunately, the White House would rather play partisan politics instead of doing its job and nominating qualified candidates to fill these roles,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, in a joint press release with the other three senators. “The White House must immediately send up Democratic nominees for the SEC and FDIC, and the Senate must work to consider and confirm them to ensure proper oversight of our financial system.”
Brown was joined by Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Tina Smith, D-Minn., in calling for quicker action on Democratic appointees.
The FDIC is currently chaired by Trump appointee Jelena McWilliams while former Chair Martin Gruenberg, a Democrat, retains a seat on the board. A third inside seat on the FDIC board is vacant.
The SEC currently only has one Democratic commissioner, Robert Jackson. The other seat traditionally reserved for a Democratic nominee on the five-member commission is vacant.
“By playing partisan political games with the nominees to the FDIC and SEC, the White House and Senate Republicans are depriving Americans of the important oversight they expect and deserve,” said Smith, a member of the Senate Banking Committee. “We need to get back to the bipartisan approach that has traditionally defined these nominations.”
