Senate Unlikely To Confirm New FDIC Chair This Year

Lawmakers are “sounding doubtful” there the Senate will confirm a successor to outgoing Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Martin Gruenberg this year, according to reporting from Punchbowl News.

• Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) said in an interview: “I don’t expect that we’ll actually get a replacement. I think they knew from day one that this would be difficult to get done before his term expires — before we have a change in administration in January.”
• Gruenberg said he would step down when the Senate confirms a replacement, following an independent investigation into reports of sexual harassment at the agency.
• Punchbowl notes: “If he stepped down straight away, day-to-day control of the FDIC would fall to GOP appointee Travis Hill, the agency’s vice chair. The FDIC board would also be split 2-2 on partisan lines, halting the Democratic banking agenda.”
• Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) said, on the prospect of confirming a successor before a new administration is sworn in, in January: “I don’t think it’s about Gruenberg. I think it’s just unlikely... How often has the Senate jammed through confirmations at this point in the electoral cycle?”