Saule Omarova, President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), is refusing to hand over to the Senate Banking Committee her university thesis on Marxism written during her time in the Soviet Union.
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, ranking member of the committee, had sent a letter to Omarova on Oct. 6 asking the Cornell Law School professor to hand over her Moscow State University thesis, titled “Karl Marx’s Economic Analysis and the Theory of Revolution in The Capital,” by Oct. 13, citing the committee’s need to “fully assess the fitness of individuals to serve in Senate-confirmed executive and independent agency positions.”
Omarova, who grew up in the Soviet Union, had scrubbed mention of the thesis from her resume, the Washington Free Beacon reported. She also praised the now-defunct socialist government for its lack of “gender pay gap” in 2019.
“What’s shocking to me is the notion that a person nominated for a very high position in our government shouldn’t be accountable for the things they have advocated for in writing themselves,” Toomey said during a committee hearing, adding that he had never “seen a more radical choice for any regulatory spot in our federal government.”
Omarova is a vocal critic of big banks and Wall Street orthodoxy, calling for a publicly-managed banking system overseen by the Federal Reserve and to end “banking as we know it.” She also opposes cryptocurrencies, calling instead for a central bank digital currency and praising China’s strict crypto regulatory regime.
Sen. Pat Toomey speaks during a news conference on May 27. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Her ideas on financial regulation have earned her criticism from top Republicans including Toomey and Sen. Ted Cruz, who called her a “radical threat to our economy.” Omarova defended herself in a Thursday interview with the Financial Times, saying she was an “easy target” because she was a “woman” and a “minority.”
Omarova has yet to hand over her university thesis to the committee, according to Senate Banking Committee Republicans. (RELATED: Biden Taps Critic Of Big Tech Jonathan Kanter To Head DOJ Antitrust Division)
“Ms. Omarova has time to attack Republicans in an interview with the Financial Times, but she can’t bother to comply with a Banking Committee requirement that nominees— regardless of their political party or ideology—submit copies of their writings,” Amanda Gonzalez Thompson, spokesperson for Senate Banking Committee Republicans, said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We certainly hope she reconsiders so Senators have the information necessary to fulfill their constitutional duty to advise and consent on appointments.”
Omarova did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
If confirmed as head of the OCC, Omarova would oversee the regulation and management of national banks, including 1,200 financial institutions and $14 trillion in assets, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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