Five moderate Democratic senators have reportedly said they will not support President Biden’s communist-born pick for bank regulator, dooming Saule Omarova’s nomination.
A tense Senate hearing last week heaped more pressure on a nominee whose childhood in Soviet Kazakhstan has been under scrutiny ever since the Cornell law professor was tapped to be comptroller of the currency.
She was forced to deny she was a communist under questioning by Republicans.
In a phone call on Wednesday, three members of the Senate Banking Committee – Jon Tester (D-Mont.) Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) – told the panel’s chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) of their opposition, according to Axios.
They are reportedly joined by Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
A White House official said the administration stood by its pick.
‘Saule Omarova is eminently qualified for this position,’ the official said.
‘She has been treated unfairly since her nomination with unacceptable red-baiting from Republicans like it’s the McCarthy era.’
Well, she’s a communist and believes in that…