In what is sure to be one of the fieriest confirmation hearings to date, Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, is set to take questions from the Senate Finance Committee starting at 10AM EST. As the show gets started, Democrats will undoubtedly be looking to score theatrical points with the working class folks of the Midwest by peppering Mnuchin with zingers on his time at Goldman Sachs and demonizing his involvement with foreclosure efforts at IndyMac and OneWest.
As the political theater get ready to begin, per The Hill, here are some of the things to expect:
1. Democrats will undoubted try to score populist points with the working class folks of the Midwest by hitting Mnuchin on his banking background.
Democrats have ripped Trump for staffing his administration with several Goldman Sachs alumni and wealthy business figures after campaigning against corporate elites running government.
Mnuchin made millions through his private sector career in investing, banking and movie producing. He’s never worked in government, spurring Democrats to raise questions about his preparedness and familiarity with the job.
Democrats are putting a target on Mnuchin as they seek to bolster their populist credentials. They’ve already nicknamed him “the foreclosure king” and claimed his lack of government service won’t translate into fighting for middle class Americans.
Finance Committee Democrats Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) are up for reelection in 2018 in states that went for Trump. How they approach their questioning of Mnuchin will be something to watch.
2. Will Mnuchin weigh in on Dodd-Frank, a controversial piece of legislation that Republicans have been looking to overhaul for years.
Though the Senate Banking Committee has jurisdiction over the issues covered by the Dodd-Frank Act, some Senate Finance members are likely to press Mnuchin on the sweeping financial regulation law passed in 2010.
Republicans have been planning a Dodd-Frank overhaul for more than a year and are poised to make major changes to the law, even if it’s piece by piece.
Brown, the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, sent Mnuchin a letter in December with several questions on banking and housing regulation that he says Mnuchin didn’t answer. Brown also told reporters Tuesday that he expects such questions to be asked by other senators.
Mnuchin’s comments on Dodd-Frank could reveal where the Trump administration wants to start when it comes to changing Dodd-Frank. Trump shed little light during the campaign on how he’d approach the law, so Mnuchin could be the first look into the administration’s priorities.
3. Will Mnuchin be opposed by any Republicans on the Committee?
While most Republicans appear ready to back Mnuchin, one GOP senator could waver: Sen. Dean Heller (Nev.).
Heller, a Finance Committee member, is up for reelection in 2018 in a state won by Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. Nevada was also devastated by foreclosures during the housing crisis, making Mnuchin’s record at OneWest a sensitive issue.
Heller told The Hill this month that despite his “very positive” conversation with Mnuchin, he still has reservations about supporting him.
4. What will Mnuchin say regarding a strong-dollar policy?
It’s been a mantra of Treasury secretaries since the mid-1990s. Usually, Republican and Democratic administrations have maintained a policy of backing a strong U.S. currency, speaking neutrally about it, for fear of upsetting the financial markets. But Trump went and changed that.
“Our dollar is too strong,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal last week. “And our companies can’t compete with [China] now because our currency is too strong. And it’s killing us.”
Will Mnuchin echo Trump’s sentiments or will he maintain a strong-dollar policy tradition? The markets await his answer.
With that, courtesy of WikiPedia, here is a brief bio on Mnuchin:
Steven Terner Mnuchin is a former Goldman Sachs partner and senior manager and hedge fund investor. On November 30, 2016, it was announced that Mnuchin would be nominated as Secretary of the Treasury in the coming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
After he graduated from Yale University, Mnuchin worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs for 17 years, reaching its management committee. After he left the bank in 2002, he worked for and founded a number of hedge funds. During the financial crisis, Mnuchin bought failed house lender IndyMac. He rebuilt the bank as chairman and CEO in the subsequent years under the name OneWest Bank, and sold it in 2015 to CIT Group. Mnuchin joined Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, and was named national finance chairman for his campaign.
And here is a live stream of the festivities:
via http://ift.tt/2iWD5pY Tyler Durden