Congress
Senate panel advances Trump’s picks for Wall Street and banking regulators
The Senate Banking Committee on Thursday approved President Donald Trump’s pick for a new top Wall Street regulator and other key financial nominees who will help carry out his administration’s deregulatory agenda.
On a 13-11 vote, along party lines, the panel advanced the nomination of Paul Atkins to be chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is a former SEC commissioner who has worked as a consultant to many of the biggest financial firms over the last 16 years. He has indicated he would take a lighter-touch regulatory approach to cryptocurrency markets, enforcement, and the rules around how companies raise money in the U.S.
The committee similarly voted along party lines to approve the nomination of Jonathan Gould as the comptroller of the currency, a top regulator of national banks. Gould, currently a partner at the law firm Jones Day, was the agency’s chief counsel during the first Trump administration.
Republicans have cheered Trump’s picks as they seek to turn the page on Biden-era regulators that were loathed by many in the financial industry.
But Democrats on the committee, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, largely opposed Trump’s nominees, citing concerns they would weaken guardrails on Wall Street institutions and take a lax approach to policing financial institutions.
One of Trump’s picks for a senior Treasury Department role garnered bipartisan support, however. Six Democrats joined with the committee’s Republicans in supporting Luke Pettit’s nomination to be Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial institutions, a position focused on financial regulations and policy. Pettit is a former Senate Banking Committee staffer who previously worked at the investment firm Bridgewater Associates and as a senior policy analyst at the Federal Reserve.
Declan Harty and Katy O’Donnell contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump and top White House officials are privately lobbying Republican senators to delay a ban on intoxicating hemp that’s set to kick in this fall.
At the Trump administration’s urging, the government funding patch the Senate is working to pass this week would push off the forthcoming ban of some cannabis products derived from hemp. But several Republican senators are demanding a vote to strip the delay out and let that prohibition kick in come November.
They’re hearing from the White House about it.
Trump called Sen. Ted Budd on Tuesday night, after the North Carolina Republican filed an amendment to ensure the ban kicks in as mandated on Nov. 12, according to a Senate aide granted anonymity to describe the private discussion. On the call, the president discussed creating a federal regulatory framework for hemp but did not ask Budd to withdraw his amendment, the individual added.
“I’ve been asked by lots of people to stand down on this amendment,” Budd told reporters Wednesday.
Budd noted that the Trump administration has had almost nine months to come up with a plan for implementing the ban.
“So why all of a sudden pop up for some seemingly innocent delay?” he asked, accusing the White House of instead preparing to “jam this on some must-pass” funding package at year’s end to further delay the prohibition.
A White House official granted anonymity to discuss the private debate said the Trump administration is seeking “a modest four-week delay” through the Dec. 11 expiration of the funding patch “to allow for productive conversations to continue.” Some synthetic cannabis products would be permanently banned in the meantime, the official added.
The administration lobbying has successfully swayed some Senate Republicans, such as Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who said in an interview that “the White House has committed to me that they’re committed to regulate the industry.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of hemp-rich Kentucky said the issue came up “in a big way” during Senate Republicans’ private lunch meeting Wednesday. Paul said he spoke in support of delaying the ban and said those arguing for a delay “aren’t very rational.”
“They’re wanting to hold up the funding for the government over one month,” he said. “It’s kind of insane.”
Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is in the Capitol meeting with holdout GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiania as he tries to lock down their support for his confirmation as permanent leader of the Justice Department.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) declined to respond directly Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to denounce his former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller over abuse accusations leveled by Moreno’s daughter: “These aren’t accusations in my world,” he said.
“In my world, this is the reality,” Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. “This is not something that is theoretical to me. This is my lived reality of my daughter and my family every single solitary day.”
In an interview with Dasha Burns for Blue Light News’s The Conversation, Johnson declined to take sides in the dispute between Miller (R-Ohio) and Emily Moreno. He called for a House Ethics probe to “play out.”
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