The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“EXECUTIVE SESSION” mentioning the Federal Reserve System was published in the Senate section on pages S7027-S7030 on Nov. 15, 2018.
The Federal Reserve is the US's central bank, expanding many times during great financial uncertainty and panic. It has faced numerous criticisms since its creation in 1913, such as making the Great Depression worse and for lacking transparency and audits.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
EXECUTIVE SESSION
______
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Michelle Bowman, of Kansas, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for the unexpired term of fourteen years from February 1, 2006.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sullivan). The Senator from Texas.
Immigration
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I wanted to come back to the floor after speaking a little earlier this morning about the so-called caravan of migrants coming from Central America up through Mexico and who are now located in Tijuana, many of whom will be seeking asylum here in the United States. Coming from Texas with a 1,200-mile common border with Mexico, caravans are not unheard of; in fact, we have many caravans showing up on a daily basis at Border Patrol stations, including unaccompanied children and families.
What has happened is that the cartels--these transnational criminal organizations--have figured out, as part of their business model, that they can make money by shipping migrants up through Mexico into the United States or they can ship drugs from Mexico into the United States or traffic in children and women for sex slavery. They have figured out that they can make money because of the gaps in our border security, because of the characteristics of our law that make it impossible for us to deter many of the immigrants coming from Central America.
I know that during the recent midterm elections, there was some thought that President Trump or others were just sort of making this issue up in order to energize voters leading up to the midterm elections. Well, I will not comment on the politics of this; I will just say that this is a phenomenon that has been occurring on a daily basis in the recent past. It is because of a glitch in our laws that our Democratic colleagues are well aware of, and that we have tried to fix, but they simply will not cooperate with us in order to fix it.
Basically, what we would do is treat somebody who enters the United States from noncontiguous countries the same way we would if they came into our country illegally from Mexico. That is the long and short of it. But they will not have any part of it because they feel as though this advantages them politically because by enforcing our laws, by securing our borders, they believe that somehow that could be portrayed as anti-immigrant, which is demonstrably false.
About 40 percent of my constituents in Texas are of Hispanic origin, many of whom live along that international border. They understand that the cartels that traffic in people and drugs and contraband are criminal organizations that threaten their security and safety. So I feel very strongly about this issue, and I think somebody needs to speak up and state the facts.
These caravans are bringing thousands of migrants coming from Central American countries, mostly women and children. But you can imagine, if one caravan of several thousand people is successful in breaching our border and entering the United States without regard to our immigration laws, what that will do to encourage further efforts. So this is not a one-off; this isn't just something that is going to happen one time. This will get worse and worse and worse. If you went down to some of these Central American countries and asked them who would like to immigrate to the United States, you are going to see not just hundreds and thousands, but hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions, of people who would like to come to the United States.
We have to have an orderly way to deal with immigration.
Somebody asked in this last midterm election: What is your position on immigration?
I said: It is really simple. Legal immigration is good; illegal immigration is bad.
So we know that this current caravan is not made up entirely of asylum seekers or people trying to flee poverty and violence in their home countries. It is made up of migrants from other parts of the world who travel to Central America so that they can take advantage of that porous border and the pathway to the United States. They come from countries all around the world, including special interest aliens from countries that, unfortunately, are plagued by terrorism. I am not saying we have a bunch of terrorists in this pack; I am just saying it is a vulnerability that could be exploited by anybody who wants to take advantage of these gaps in our law and our lack of security.
It also includes people who have been arrested in the United States and deported back to their home countries, who are reentering the United States in violation of our immigration laws. They have already committed criminal acts, and they are coming back in, disguised, among the larger caravan of Central American immigrants.
One thing the Border Patrol has also made clear is that because the Border Patrol has to deal with this mass of humanity coming up across the border while somehow treating them in a humane fashion, which we all would want them to do, the cartels realize the Border Patrol is all balled up trying to process this caravan of Central American immigrants, so that opens up avenues by which to import illegal drugs into the United States, another moneymaking proposition for the cartels. Ninety percent of the heroin--an opioid--90 percent of the heroin that comes into the United States comes from Mexico.
Somebody said to me recently: Well, the cartels are commodity agnostic. I thought that was a pretty good way of expressing it. In other words, they are into anything that will make them money. No matter how debased, no matter how cruel, no matter how inhumane, they are willing to do anything to make money.
By not dealing with this issue in a responsible fashion on a nonpartisan basis, we are making the cartels rich. More people have died in Mexico since 2007 than have died in the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq combined. Incoming President Lopez Obrador has said that he wants to deal with the violence in Mexico as part of his new administration. Frankly, I think we need to help him, but we need to recognize the reality. This is not benign activity; this isn't a mom-
and-pop operation where people who want jobs are coming into the United States. This is a big business.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that two gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18 now rule over most of El Salvador, terrorizing that country's population. These gangs and the cartels that support them throughout Central America take advantage of a very simple economic principle: supply and demand. So as long as there is demand in the United States for heroin and other illegal drugs, as long as there is a demand for low-wage labor, these gangs will fill that supply. As long as there is a demand for sex slavery, these gangs and these cartels will meet that supply.
So this makes our relationship with our friends in Mexico very, very important. Our two governments need to work more closely together because U.S. and American interests are interrelated and aligned. This is not just an illegal immigration or drug smuggling problem; it is all of them combined. It is a question of whether the Government of Mexico can actually control or defeat the cartels that threaten the safety and stability of their people in that country and have this business model that I mentioned.
So our partnership with Mexico--under the administration of President Lopez Obrador, who will be sworn in on December 1; I hope to be there at that inauguration--must continue to grow and evolve because the gangs, the cartels that hurt and kill people in Mexico and then threaten our security and safety here in the United States are going to also evolve and adapt to make sure they can maintain their dominance in the region. That is why programs like the Merida Initiative are vital to our collective success in combating this multiheaded monster.
It is clear we should take into account how to combat the flow of illicit drugs into the United States and how we can help restore the relationship--our relationship--with those communities and those countries and law enforcement personnel in Central America.
This crisis extends far beyond how to treat the flood of migrants that come across the border. This is not a political issue alone, as some would have it. People act as though the President dreamed this issue up in order to gain advantage or energize his base during the recently passed midterm elections.
In Texas, communities along our border rely heavily on legitimate trade and travel across our ports of entry. It is really important. That is why NAFTA and the renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement was so important, and it is important to the entire country because 14 million jobs depend on trade with Mexico and Canada. You can imagine, if our ports of entry are clogged with caravan after caravan of tens, hundreds, thousands--maybe hundreds of thousands--of migrants from Central America seeking asylum in the United States, we are not going to have much legitimate trade and commerce across those ports of entry, and it is going to harm not only my State, but the United States as a whole.
We can't forget that our border communities are critically important, and any solution we find must somehow balance our normal compassion for people who are vulnerable and people who are seeking a better life with the rule of law and our ability to protect our own sovereignty by securing our borders and controlling illegal immigration into the United States.
In the coming weeks, I hope we can work with the administration to determine a course of action that addresses the real needs of legitimate asylum seekers without rewarding illegal activity and making the drug cartels even richer than they are now and encouraging and condoning more and more violence, which harms people all across the region. We need to send a message that the United States alone cannot bear the burden of this mass migration, and we need to ensure that those who seek to enter the United States do so legally. We will work with our partners in Central America and Mexico to try to find solutions that will allow migrants to return safely to their home countries or find resettlement solutions in safe countries until the day I know they would hope for, when they could safely return home.
I yield the floor.
Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I rise today in support of confirming Michelle Bowman to fill the community bank specialist seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
Miki is the perfect choice to be the first occupant of this seat on the Fed's Board. She comes from a long line of community bankers.
In 1882, Miki's great-great-grandfather helped start her family-owned bank, Farmers and Drovers, in Council Grove, KS.
She worked at Farmers and Drovers Bank from 2010 until January 2017, when she assumed her current position as the State Bank Commissioner of Kansas.
Prior to moving back to Kansas in 2010, Miki worked in Washington, DC, for Kansas' native son, Senator Bob Dole.
Miki also has experience working in the executive branch.
She was appointed by President Bush to positions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and at the Department of Homeland Security.
This diversity of experience will serve her well in her upcoming role with the Federal Reserve.
While we have made progress in providing regulatory relief to our Nation's community banks, it is critical that we keep it up and build on that work.
Community banks did not cause the financial crisis and should not be regulated as if they did.
Miki understands where the pain points are for community banks and will be a strong advocate for commonsense, risk-based regulation.
I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of her nomination when she comes to the floor for a final vote this afternoon.
Thank you.
Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the nomination of Commissioner Michelle Bowman to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
The Federal Reserve is charged with ensuring financial institutions are safe and sound, promoting financial stability and carrying out U.S. monetary policy.
Decisions made by the Federal Reserve have a significant impact on the economy, businesses, and households across the Nation.
Commissioner Bowman is highly qualified to fill the Federal Reserve Board role reserved for a person with community banking experience.
Commissioner Bowman has served as the State Bank Commissioner of Kansas since February 2017.
Prior to that, she worked as a vice president at Farmers and Drovers Bank, a Kansas-based community bank with $175 million in assets.
She has also previously served in a number of government roles, including as a staffer in both the Senate and House, as well as in various roles at the Department of Homeland Security.
Commissioner Bowman learned banking from the frontlines to the back office at Farmers and Drovers Bank, an institution with which her family first became involved in 1882.
As a former community banker and bank regulator, she is intimately familiar with the business of banking, its regulatory framework, and how regulators' decisions impact banks and the communities in which they operate.
She knows firsthand the unique relationships that community banks foster with their local communities, often operating through relationship banking to provide access to credit, support employment, and promote economic growth.
In her nomination hearing, Commissioner Bowman noted, ``I have witnessed firsthand how the regulatory environment created in the aftermath of the crisis has disadvantaged community banks.''
``If confirmed, I will bring this perspective to my work at the Board to ensure that rules preserve the resiliency of the financial system, but are appropriately tailored to the size, complexity and risk of an institution.''
I am encouraged by the attention she has paid to the need to appropriately tailor regulations and the potential consequences of not doing so.
In May, the President signed into law S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.
This bill tailors regulations for midsized and regional banks and provides meaningful relief to community banks.
Commissioner Bowman brings a unique expertise and perspective to the Federal Reserve as it continues implementing key provisions of the bill.
The Federal Reserve also sets U.S. monetary policy.
In her confirmation hearing, Commissioner Bowman reassured the Banking Committee that her decisions would be based on sound economic policies.
This is significant during a period of monetary policy normalization at the Fed.
I am confident she will contribute positively toward the Federal Reserve fulfilling its mission.
I will be voting in favor of Commissioner Bowman's nomination today, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Bowman nomination?
Mr. GARDNER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 64, nays 34, as follows:
YEAS--64
AlexanderBarrassoBennetBluntBoozmanBurrCapitoCarperCassidyCollinsCoonsCorkerCornynCottonCrapoCruzDainesDonnellyEnziErnstFischerFlakeGardnerGrahamGrassleyHassanHatchHeitkampHellerHoevenHyde-SmithInhofeIsaksonJohnsonJonesKaineKennedyKylLankfordLeeManchinMcCaskillMcConnellMoranMurkowskiPerduePetersPortmanRischRobertsRoundsRubioSasseScottShaheenShelbySullivanTesterThuneTillisToomeyWarnerWickerYoung
NAYS--34
BaldwinBlumenthalBookerBrownCantwellCardinCaseyCortez MastoDuckworthDurbinFeinsteinGillibrandHarrisHeinrichHironoKingKlobucharLeahyMarkeyMenendezMerkleyMurrayPaulReedSandersSchatzSchumerSmithStabenowUdallVan HollenWarrenWhitehouseWyden
NOT VOTING--2
MurphyNelson
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
____________________
