Senate panel advances nominations for key Treasury positions

The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday advanced in bipartisan votes four of President Biden’s nominees for key Treasury Department positions, as the administration seeks to make progress on the president’s economic agenda.

The committee advanced the nominations of Lily Batchelder to be assistant secretary for tax policy, Nellie Liang to be under secretary for domestic finance, Benjamin Harris to be assistant secretary for economic policy and Jonathan Davidson to be assistant secretary for legislative affairs.

Batchelder’s nomination received a vote of 22-6 and Liang’s nomination received a vote of 24-4. The committee unanimously voted to advance Harris and Davidson’s nominations. The nominations now head to the full Senate.

The votes come as Biden has made a recovery from the coronavirus-related economic downturn a top priority. The president in March signed into law a $1.9 trillion relief package, and many aspects of that measure are being implemented by Treasury. Biden has also released a $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal and a $1.8 trillion plan focused on education and child care, and he is pushing Congress to craft legislation based on these proposals.

Batchelder is a law professor at New York University and a former Obama administration official and aide to Finance Committee Democrats. Liang is a former Federal Reserve official. Harris has long been an economic aide to Biden. Davidson was previously an aide to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), a member of the Finance panel.

Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said during a meeting of the panel earlier this week that he thinks the nominees are “very qualified.”