Another one of President Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees is being exposed as radical. Saule Omarova, Biden’s choice to lead the Office of the Controller of the Currency (OCC), is a progressive pick who seeks to ramp up the federal government’s control of banks.
Omarova recently argued for a Federal Reserve takeover of consumer bank depositing, which would change banking “as we know it,” via The Wall Street Journal:
In a recent paper “The People’s Ledger,” she proposed that the Federal Reserve take over consumer bank deposits, “effectively ‘end banking,’ as we know it,” and become “the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a modern economy.” She’d also like the U.S. to create a central bank digital currency—as Venezuela and China are doing—to “redesign our financial system & turn Fed’s balance sheet into a true ‘People’s Ledger,’” she tweeted this summer. What could possibly go wrong? (WSJ)
Senate Republicans are sounding the alarm on yet another controversial nomination from Biden.
"Joe Biden's nominee to regulate banks praised Soviet communism. She wants to 'end banking as we know it.' She's unqualified and a terrible choice. Yet another broken promise from Joe Biden," Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote on Twitter.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) also echoed concerns about Omarova's socialist views.
Saule Omarova, Biden’s pick for the OCC, is a radical threat to our economy.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 28, 2021
She has pushed for gov’t to have a more invasive role in banking, wants to nationalize consumer banks, and has called to “effectively end banking as we know it.”
Republicans have managed to torpedo a couple of Biden's radical nominees, including Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).