Will Elizabeth Warren Oppose Obama's Pick for Banking Watchdog?

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The president has just nominated a Wall Street lawyer to head a key banking regulator.
—By Erika Eichelberger


In December, President Barack Obama nominated attorney Sharon Bowen to help run the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates derivatives and futures markets. Bowen has little experience in derivatives, and she has represented big banks in court. Financial-reform advocates are skeptical that she is the right woman for the job—and are trying to generate opposition to the nominee. But the real question is this: Will middle-class crusader Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) oppose Bowen's confirmation? And if she did, would that derail Bowen's candidacy?

If Warren—who sits on the powerful Senate banking committee, which vets CFTC nominees—signals she will vote against Bowen, other key senators on the committee may follow suit, and that could cause a problem for the White House and Bowen. There's precedent for this. In September, Warren's no-vote threat helped scuttle the nomination of former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, whom Obama was considering as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Warren has weighed in on Obama's CFTC picks before. In November, she expressed skepticism about Timothy Massad, the Treasury Department official Obama tapped to be chair of the agency, saying she needs more information about Massad's views on regulation and his qualifications for the post. (Massad has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.)

Warren has declined to comment on Bowen's nomination. But there's reason to suspect she may not approve of this pick. In late November, the Massachusetts senator and eight other Senate Dems, including Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, sent a letter to Obama urging him to nominate CFTC commissioners who have "demonstrated experience in futures, options and swaps markets" and who possess "the expertise, independence and track record necessary to…provide long overdue oversight to the swap and derivative markets that pose a systemic risk to our economy." In the same letter, the senators expressed concern that if hard-nosed reformers are not nominated to vacant CFTC posts, Wall Street may have more influence at the agency. "We are deeply concerned that some industry interests may view [these nominations] as opportunities to roll back or slow down essential reforms," Warren and her colleagues wrote.

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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/will-elizabeth-warren-support-obamas-pick-banking-watchdog