Keep Steve Mnuchin Out of Treasury To Avoid Economic Collapse

from LarouchePAC:

As late as the close of business this last Friday, it was expected that Senate Finance Committee was unlikely to vote on the nomination until early February. In a surprise move, Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch announced that he was scheduling a vote to send the Mnuchin nomination to the full Senate Monday night. It is expected that several members of the committee are likely to object until they have received answers to written questions that they had forwarded to the nominee. Chairman Hatch may or may not honor those objections. If the vote takes place as he announced, members of the committee have 3 options: they can recommend that the full Senate approve the nomination, they can recommend rejection, or they can vote to make no recommendation at all.

Once the Committee vote takes place, the nomination moves to the full Senate. The nomination must be on the Senate Executive Calendar for more than one day before it can make it to the Senate floor for consideration. Unanimous consent of the time and date for debate must be agreed upon by all senators. If even one senator does not agree, a hold is placed on the nomination.

At the point that the nomination is moved to the Senate floor, unlimited debate is allowed until two-thirds of the Senate vote to invoke cloture, closing debate. Following a vote of cloture, the Senate conducts a simple majority vote on whether to confirm, reject or take no action on the nomination.

The Senate Finance Committee members are:

Chairman, Orrin Hatch (R-UT) 202-224-5251
Ranking Minority Leader, Ron Wyden (D-OR) 202-244-5244
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) 202-224-3744
Debbie Stabenow (D – MI) 202-224-4822
Mike Crapo (R – ID) 202-224-6142
Maria Cantwell (D – WA) 202-224-3441
Pat Roberts (R – KS) 202-224-4774
Bill Nelson (D – FL) 202-224-5274
Michael B. Enzi (R – WY) 202-224-3424
Robert Menendez (D – NJ) 202-224-4744
John Cornyn (R – TX) 202-224-2934
Thomas R. Carper (D – DE) 202-224-2441
John Thune (R – SD) 202-224-2321
Benjamin L. Cardin (D – MD) 202-224-4524
Richard Burr (R – NC) 202-224-3154
Sherrod Brown (D – OH) 202-224-2315
Johnny Isakson (R – GA) 202-224-3643
Michael F. Bennet (D – CO) 202-224-5852
Rob Portman (R – OH) 202-224-3353
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D – PA) 202-224-6324
Patrick J. Toomey (R – PA) 202-224-4254
Mark R. Warner (D – VA) 202-224-2023
Dean Heller (R – NV) 202-224-6244
Claire McCaskill (D – MO) 202-224-6154
Tim Scott (R – SC) 202-224-6121
Bill Cassidy (R – LA) 202-224-9735

After misrepresenting and opposing the Glass-Steagall Act in his confirmation hearings, Steven Mnuchin is a “destructive force” who should be kept out of the Trump Administration Treasury, said economist and EIR Founding Editor Lyndon LaRouche yesterday. “He can’t be accepted for what he was claiming to be; he’s not qualified,” LaRouche added, and “he’ll make a mess in the Trump Administration. Trump could come out successfully on the Glass-Steagall issue; but this guy will mess it up.”

WATCH VIDEO HERE

As nominee for Treasury Secretary, Mnuchin’s exchanges with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who has been a lead sponsor of legislation to restore Glass-Steagall, constituted her entire questioning period during the Senate Finance Committee hearing. Despite President Trump having called for “going back to Glass-Steagall” during the campaign, Mnuchin stated his opposition to it. Cantwell pressed the Republican Party platform’s call for restoring Glass-Steagall; she also cited official estimates that a huge $14 trillion in economic losses to Americans resulted from the 2007-08 bank blowout, and that Glass-Steagall restoration was necessary to prevent that from happening again now.

Lyndon LaRouche said:

“Senator Cantwell’s presentation of the case was valid, and it was a case by which she is trying to save this nation. We’re on the fringe of what could be a terrible collapse.”

Mnuchin’s response to Cantwell was, “No, I don’t support going back to Glass-Steagall as is.” He said that he supported the Volcker Rule of the Dodd-Frank Act if modified.

Moreover, Mnuchin made a serious false claim to the Committee, in support of his opposition to Glass-Steagall. He claimed Glass-Steagall, according to a recent Federal Reserve report, “would have very big implication to the liquidity and the capital markets, and banks being able to perform necessary lending.” In other words, that Glass-Steagall would result in a less liquid bond market for economic investments, and less lending by banks.larouchepac.com
The truth is that this Federal Reserve Report, released this past September, criticized the Volcker Rule on that point, not the Glass-Steagall Act. It is titled, “The Volcker Rule and Market Making in Times of Stress.” Its main finding is that “bonds are less liquid during times of stress due to the Volcker Rule.” But Mnuchin was distressing the Committee Republicans and large numbers of bankers themselves, by supporting a Volcker Rule.

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