T 7 00 a. M. Eastern on the washington journal. Meanwhile, they corporations and the wealthy, including provisions that would undermine the tax incentives that the administration relies upon to fund its public, private partnership. In this scenario, the flexibilities of the administration can just become ways to pass the buck for budget cuts to local communities and only low income families. Have seen that time and time again. Programs helping family and seniors i hope that mr. Montgomery and mr. Kurtz prove me wrong. I hope that under their these matters are far too important to too Many Americans. Thank you, senator brown. Thank you, senator brown. Any additional senator who wishes to make in a statement a do so, although we are not encouraging it. You may do so after the vote. Proceed with a rollcall vote on mr. Montgomery and separate voice votes on mr. Kurtz and missed tops. I would like to move forward on the voice votes first. , we wills point proceed to the nomination of Robert Hunter kurtz to be assistant secretary for public and indian housing. All in favor say ay. All opposed say no. The ays have it. It is reported favorably to the senate. On the notification of suzanne israel test, all in favor say ay. All opposed say no. Have it. The nomination is ordered reported favorably to the senate. We will now proceed to the rollcall vote on the honorable Brian Montgomery to be had assistant secretary for housing and federal housing commissioner. The clerk will call the role. Clerk calls roll]]]]]] 18 in favor, five opposed. The ays have it. The nomination is ordered reported favorably to the full senate. Are there any senators who wish to make a statement . Senator warren. I oppose the nomination of Brian Montgomery. The us is one of the worst cases of the revolving door that i have ever seen. As you know, fha provides taxpayer backed mortgage insurance, helping millions of americans buy homes they might not otherwise be able to afford, and if it is not managed well it could expose taxpayers to a risk of billions of dollars in losses. Fromontgomery ran the fha 2006 to mid 2009, and during his time in turn of the agency, take banks like wells fargo and u. S. Bank submitted thousands of fraudulent mortgages to the government for taxpayer backed insurance. Mr. Montgomery apparently did nothing about it. A month after leaving the fha, mr. Montgomery founded a new company which was known in the House Finance industry is a specialist in helping firms navigate fha related penalties and lawsuits. Companygomerys new advised wells fargo and u. S. Bank on how to pay the Government Back as little as possible for their fraud. Right, mr. Montgomerys company advised banks on how to pay as little as possible for fraud that occurred on his watch at the fha. Now he has been nominated to run the fha again. Are you kidding me . Fha means leaders the American People can trust, not people who let banks get away with defrauding the agency and then making money from those same banks. We cannot expect washington to work for working families if nominees like this are confirmed. I understand the committee has advanced mr. Montgomerys nomination, but i hope the full senate will reject this nomination. Thank you, senator warren any other senators wish to speak . With that, we will close our executive session. Mr. Powell, please take your seat at the table. The committee will come to order for the hearing. Morning we will consider the nomination of the honorable jerome or jay powell to be chairman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve system. Governor powell, welcome, and congratulations on your nomination. I see friends and family behind you and i welcome them here today as well. Governor powell has had an accomplished public and private sector career in financial services. He served as an assistant secretary and under secretary of the treasury under george h w bush, where he was responsible for policy on Financial Institutions and the treasury debt market among other areas. The also has firsthand experience in Investment Banking , and was a partner at the Carlyle Group before being appointed to serve on the board of governors in 2012. During his years of service in government and the private sector, governor powell has proven he is qualified to lead the fed. If confirmed, he will play a role in striking the balance and the need to promote a vibrant economy. Over the past year, i have been encouraged to see the federal relay dealers regulators thoroughly and carefully go over loss. Governor powell has shared instances including the volcker rule, stress tests, and resolution plans. Several weeks ago, 13 members of this committee including myself introduced legislation to improve our nations financial legless worry like your tory framework. Regulatory framework. It benefit demonstrates strong bipartisan support for simplifying and tailoring regulations. Part of it tailors regulations for smaller institutions and Community Banks while at the same time improving access to mortgage credit and housing, and ensuring strong Consumer Protections. The legislation also addresses the 50 billion threshold for which governor powell, chair yellen, and others have expressed support. On the Monetary Policy front, i junencouraged by the feds announcement to reduce its Asset Holdings in a gradual and predictable manner. As the fed can send continues its path in normalizing Monetary Policy which i hope it does continue Clear Communication should be a central priority. I look forward to working with the Federal Reserve and welcome any additional thoughts or ideas that governor powell has on areas where it the fed and congress can reduce unnecessary burden and promote Economic Growth. Congratulations again on your nomination, mr. Powell, and thank you and your family for your willingness to serve. Senator brown. Brown welcome, governor powell. I would like to start off by thanking janet yellen. She has done an excellent job leading the fed. U. S. Experienced one of the largest economic expansions in our history, and expansion we still enjoy. Chair yellen was among the most qualified people to ever be nominated to be chair of the Federal Reserve. You do not have to have a doctorate in economics to lead the fed, but we were lucky that both she and chairman bernanke were students of the feds mistakes in the 1930s. Following thep worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and shirt we did not repeat those mistakes. Chair yellen is the first woman ever to serve as chair of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve. I am disappointed that President Trump has broken with the tradition of reappointing the last president s Federal Reserve chair. This administration has also broken with the tradition of trying to make the federal government more diverse. That said, those decisions, governor powell, were not yours. I congratulate you and your nomination. We have had a good working relationship since you were first nominated to be a member of the fed by president obama in 2012. You supported tougher rules for the nations largest banks as the fed implemented wall street reserve wall street reform. You worked for more diverse individuals. Done. Ore needs to be there has been some progress. You understand the importance of an independent central bank. He strongly impost misguided efforts to micromanage the fed and make other changes to i hope you will stick to those positions on these important matters and on others. If there are good reasons to be concerned, the good the Current Administration does not appear to value independence in the judiciary, the fbi, or Federal Reserve. It is unprecedented the way the president has made comments about the current fed chair. The search for the fed chair often seemed like an episode of the apprentice. I am concerned about the direction of financial reform under this Current Administration. While banks make record profits, paying executives big bonuses, the administration makes unfounded claims to justify the rollback the reforms put in place after the crisis. The new vice chair for supervision at the fed does not seem to be inclined to support the current Regulatory Framework put in place by the fed and the crisis. He has troubling views on stress test and more generally the role of watchdogs in the Financial System. Industry has an outsized and full lengths. Wall street particularly has an outsized influence on this administration. The individuals they have put in charge as financial watchdogs are far too often former bankers or former bankers lawyers. Some federal Bank Regulators seem willing to rather than combat arbitrary arbitrage. In formulating a report, treasury met with 17 industry representatives for every ansumer Group Representing ordinary american, 17 industry representatives for every consumer Group Representing ordinary americans. Mr. Powell, even your schedule indicates you were meeting far more frequently with industry than consumer groups. You met with wells fargos ceo more than all the other consumer groups on your schedule combined. Has forgottention the americans who lost their jobs and homes and Retirement Savings less than a decade ago. I take this personally. Members of this committee have heard me say, my wife and i live in cleveland, ohio. The zip code in the first half of 2007 experienced more foreclosures than any other in the United States of america. I see the blight 200 yards for my house that happened in large part because of wall street overreach. The loss to so Many Americans of retirement, and savings was particularly harmful to africanamerican and latino communities, who have not recovered from the financial crisis as quickly as white americans. There seems to be a collective amnesia in this room, in this committee, in this congress, a collective amnesia about what happened 10 years ago. Americans still struggle because of low wages, underemployment or unemployment, and lack of opportunities. Loosening the rules for the largest tanks is not the way to solve these problems. Her record has been strong on a number of these issues. We urge you to continue that record. I hope you will make your decisions based on facts independent from the political pressure from the president of the United States and the treasury secretary. Thank you. Brown. K you, senator at this point we will administer the oath. Governor powell, will you please rise and regime right hand . [the oath was administered] you may be seated. You are written statement will be made a part of the record in its entirety, and i invite you to introduce your family in advance of making your statement. Governor powell, you may proceed. Mr. Powell thank you, chairman crapo and Ranking Member brown. I will begin by introducing my , without whose loving support and counsel i would not be sitting here. I would introduce two of my five siblings, two of my sisters. The other three siblings are here in spirit and all will have claimed to watch the hearing live, which i am sure will be true. We will deem it true. Some stories are too good to fact check. Thank you again, chairman crapo and Ranking Member brown and , other members of the committee. Thank you for expeditiously scheduling this hearing and providing me the opportunity to appear before you today. I would also like to express my gratitude to President Trump for the confidence he has shown by nominating me to serve as chairman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve system. The Federal Reserve has had a productive relationship with this committee over the years, and if you and your colleagues see fit to confirm me, i look forward to working closely with you in the years ahead. As you know, i have served as a member of the board of governors and the federal open Market Committee for more than five years, contributing in a variety of capacities, including most recently as chairman of the Boards Committee on supervision and regulation. My views on a wide range of Monetary Policy and regulatory issues are on the Public Record in speeches and testimonies during my service at the fed. Congress established the Federal Reserve more than a century ago to provide a safer and more flexible monetary and Financial System. And almost exactly 40 years ago, the dualned us Monetary Policy goals of maximum employment meaning people who , want to work either have a job or are likely to find one fairly quickly and price stability, meaning inflation is low and stable enough that it need not figure into households and businesses economic decisions. I have had the great privilege of serving under chairman bernanke and chair yellen and like them, i will do everything in my power to achieve those goals while preserving the Federal Reserves independent and nonpartisan status that is so vital to their pursuit. In our democracy, transparency and accountability must accompany that independence. We are transparent and accountable in many ways. Among them, we affirm our numerical inflation objective annually and we publish our economic and Interest Rate projections quarterly. Since 2011, the chairman has conducted regular news conferences to explain the fomcs thinking. Additionally, we are accountable to the peoples representatives through twice a year reports and testimony, as well as through oversight and audited financial statements. I am strongly committed to that framework of transparency and accountability and to continuing to look for ways to enhance it. In addition, in our federated system, members of the washingtonbased board of governors participate in fomc deliberations with the president s of the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks, which are deeply rooted in their local communities. I am a strong supporter of this institutional structure, which helps ensure a diversity of perspectives on Monetary Policy and also helps sustain the publics support for the Federal Reserve as an institution. If confirmed, i would strive, along with my colleagues, to support the economys continued progress toward full recovery. Our aim is to sustain a strong jobs market with inflation moving gradually up toward our target. We expect Interest Rates to rise somewhat further and the size of our Balance Sheet to gradually shrank. Shrink. However, while we endeavor to make the path of policy as predictable as possible, the future cannot be known with certainty. So we must retain the flexibility to adjust our policies in response to economic developments. Above all, even as we draw on the lessons of the past, we must be prepared to respond decisively and with appropriate force to new and unexpected threats to our nations Financial Stability and economic prosperity, the original motivation for the founding of the Federal Reserve. As a regulator and supervisor of banking institutions, in collaboration with other federal and state agencies, we must help ensure that our Financial System remains both stable and efficient. Our Financial System is without doubt far stronger and more resilient than it was a decade ago, with higher levels of capital and liquid assets, greater awareness of the risks they run, and better ability to manage those risks. Even as we have worked to implement improvements, we also have sought to tailor regulation and supervision to the size and risk profile of banks, particularly community institutions. We will continue to consider appropriate ways to ease Regulatory Burdens while preserving the core reforms of strong levels of capital and liquidity, stress testing, and resolution planning so that banks can provide the credit to families and businesses necessary to sustain a prosperous economy. In doing so, we must be clear and transparent about the principles that are driving our decisions and about the expectations we have for the institutions we regulate. To conclude, inside the Federal Reserve, we understand that our decisions in all these areas matter for American Families and communities. I am committed to making decisions objectively and based on the best available evidence. In doing so, i would be guided solely by our mandate from the congress and the longrun interests of the american public. Thank you, and i will be happy to respond to your questions. Thank you,