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Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Jelena McWilliams to be the Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
A native of the former Yugoslavia, Jelena earned her bachelor's degree and J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. From tough experiences that her family shared in Europe, Jelena understands the value hard work provides in a free market environment like ours.
The FDIC plays an important role in ensuring consumer confidence in our Nation's banks. In addition to their work as the prudential regulator for State-chartered banks, the FDIC is also a key part of many interagency efforts to appropriately regulate financial institutions.
Due to her vast experience, Jelena is beyond qualified for this esteemed position. To put it clearly, she has worked in all fields that interact with her new role. She is certainly no stranger to the Senate. During my time as chairman, Jelena served as chief counsel and deputy staff director of the Senate Banking Committee. Additionally, she was assistant chief counsel on the Senate Small Business Committee and has experience working for the Federal Reserve. Jelena also has private sector experience as an attorney in private practice. She also served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary for Fifth Third Bank.
Opposition to her nomination is unfathomable. Ms. McWilliams was reported out of the Banking Committee by a voice vote in February. She understands all sides of the areas she will regulate with the highest level of sophistication. However, that has not prevented Members of this body from being unreasonable. Opposition has appeared due to the nature of the Senate today, not due to any question regarding Jelena's qualification for the job.
Passage of her nomination builds on positive moment this week. With the passage of S. 2155, Congress has advanced appropriate scaling back of over-burdensome financial regulations. By confirming Jelena, the Senate has the opportunity to continue providing Main Street with commonsense regulatory relief. I am certain that Jelena is up for the challenge and confident that she will do an excellent job in this esteemed position.
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