


Michelle Bowman, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the top bank regulator at the Federal Reserve, has been advanced out of committee and will now head to full Senate vote.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 on Tuesday to move forward Bowman’s nomination to the Fed’s next vice chairwoman for supervision. If approved, Bowman, 53, will succeed Fed Governor Michael Barr, who stepped aside earlier this year after Trump was sworn in.
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Bowman, who has served on the Board of Governors since 2018, graduated from the University of Kansas and later went on to get her law degree from Washburn University. Prior to the Fed, she served as the state bank commissioner of Kansas. Prior to that she was vice president of Farmers & Drovers Bank.
During the second Bush administration, she briefly served as deputy assistant secretary and policy advisor to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
When Bowman was first nominated to join the Fed, in 2018, she received bipartisan support and was confirmed 64-34.
During her confirmation hearing last month, Bowman said that she intends to prioritize “reforming and refocusing supervision, restoring regulatory tailoring, ensuring a viable path for innovation in the banking system, and promoting transparency and accountability.”
Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) praised Bowman during the hearing and said her career has proven she has the ability and character for the powerful job.
“She understands that financial regulators play an important role in our economy,” Scott said. “When supervisors of banks fail to do their job, everyday Americans pay the price, so our financial regulators must be held to a very high standard. As vice chair for supervision, Governor Bowman will bring accountability and transparency to the Fed and ensure it operates as an independent institution void of politics.”
But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who has long been critical of the big banks, panned Bowman’s tenure at the Fed, and said has been “prioritizing Wall Street over Main Street.”
“President Trump is fanning the flames of disaster with his mismanagement of the nation’s economy,” Warren said. “Instead of showing up with the fire department, Governor Bowman brings a can of gasoline.”
The slot opened up after Barr, was one of the designers of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act that overhauled the financial regulatory system, stepped aside. The resignation was tendered in order to avoid a possible clash with Trump over his role, according to Barr, although he stayed on as a member of the board of governors.
In recent weeks, Trump has criticized the Fed and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for holding interest rates steady and not cutting them further.
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The central bank has been walking a tightrope with rates. On one hand, it wants to keep them restrictive in order to push down inflation, which is still too high. But on the other hand, Trump’s tariff agenda has raised concerns about the strength of the economy.
Last year, Bowman became the first Fed governor since 2005 to dissent to an interest rate decision. She disagreed with the other voting members that the central bank should cut rates by a half of a percentage point, opting instead for a more modest cut.