Free Republic

Five Democratic senators have told the White House they won't support Saule Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, effectively killing her nomination for the powerful bank-regulator position.Why it matters: The defiant opposition from a broad coalition of senators reflects the real policy concerns they had with Omarova, a Cornell University law professor who's attracted controversy for her academic writings about hemming in big banks.Their opposition also hints at a willingness of some Democratic senators to buck the White House on an important nomination, even if it hands Republicans a political — and symbolic — victory.Republicans...

VIDEOWatch as Sleepy Joe's nominee for Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, Lael Brainard, hilariously dodges a simple question. Her evasiveness is made even funnier by the quick answer given by the next person to be asked the same question.

With President Biden reportedly reappointing Jerome Powell to a second term as Federal Reserve chair and make Lael Brainard as vice chair, he will have an opportunity to meet with them privately. So why am I suggesting Biden should do what no other U.S. president has done and indicate that he wants the Fed to raise rates in an election year? To be sure, throughout the Fed’s history, the opposite tack has been more common: Presidents Johnson, Nixon and, most recently, Trump all jawboned the Fed to keep interest rates low to support the economy and their reelection prospects. The...

Revelations that Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard donated to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has created a tough situation for the central bank, at a time when Donald Trump has been accusing the Fed of making policy based on political bias. A day after Fed Chair Janet Yellen found herself in the hot seat on Capitol Hill over the Brainard donation, Kansas City Fed President Esther George danced around the issue on Thursday in a CNBC interview.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's choice for a top job with the Treasury Department is having tax problems. A congressional report says Obama's nominee for undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs, Lael Brainard, was late in paying real estate taxes in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The report by the Senate Finance Committee staff also challenges the accuracy of a deduction Brainard claimed for running an office from her home. The challenge led Brainard to reduce the deduction on her 2008 return. The committee's top Republican is unhappy that the committee staff had to submit 10 sets of questions...