Senate panel to grill SEC, Ex-Im Bank nominees

The Senate Banking Committee on Thursday announced confirmation hearings for President Trump’s nominees to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission and Export-Import Bank.

The Banking panel will meet Wednesday to consider the nominations of Hester Peirce and Robert Jackson Jr. to join the SEC alongside Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Mint, David Ryder.

Peirce, currently a senior researcher at the libertarian-learning Mercatus Center, is a former SEC counsel and Senate Banking staffer. Jackson was a Treasury Department special assistant and corporate compensation attorney before joining Columbia Law School.

Both Peirce, first nominated by former President Obama, and Jackson should have little issue clearing the committee. The Banking Committee approved Pierce’s nomination in 2016, but she was never confirmed by the full Senate.

The Banking panel will meet on Nov. 1 to grill Trump’s nominee to lead the Export-Import Bank, former Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.).

Garrett, a staunch opponent of the U.S. export subsidizer, faces a much tougher road to confirmation. Republicans and Democrats from U.S. manufacturing hotbeds say they fear the conservative former congressman would attempt to destroy the bank from within.

Garrett supported a 2015 effort to defund Ex-Im that shut the bank down for roughly five months in 2016. Business groups have battled with conservative lawmakers for two years as the Ex-Im board lacks enough members to approve its most expensive decisions.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said he supports Garrett’s nomination, and conservative groups backing Garrett say he’d make necessary changes to stifle what they consider crony capitalism.

Garrett’s reported refusal to fund the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP campaign arm, over its support for LGBT candidates could also harm his standing among liberal lawmakers.

Garrett will appear beside Ex-Im first vice president and vice chairman nominee Kimberly Reed, Ex-Im board nominees former Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), Judith Pryor and Claudia Slacik, and Ex-Im inspector general nominee Mark Greenblatt