Senate Banking Committee grills six Trump nominees on housing, banking oversight, sanctions and export controls

The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on April 15 heard confirmation testimony from six administration nominees who would lead parts of housing, bank supervision, sanctions enforcement and export controls, with senators clashing over President Trump’s new tariff policy and recent bank failures.

Chairman Tim Scott opened the hearing by praising the nominees’ credentials and urging expedited confirmation so they can begin work. Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren led Democrats’ criticisms, calling the administration’s tariff strategy “self-inflicted” economic damage and warning it could amplify risks in the financial system.

The nominees introduced themselves and answered rounds of questions. Andrew Hughes, nominated to be deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said he would prioritize increasing housing supply, cutting “unnecessary barriers to homeownership,” and continuing a HUD regulatory reform task force. David Woll, nominated for HUD general counsel, described his career as a prosecutor and as a HUD deputy general counsel, and pledged to advise the department to follow the law and the Constitution.

Democratic senators pressed both HUD nominees about program cuts and litigation. Senator Jack Reed asked about the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, which Hughes said is under litigation and he could not discuss in detail. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and others pressed Hughes on staffing and field-office appointments in Nevada and other states; Hughes said Secretary Scott Turner had begun an inventory of HUD field offices and that decisions were not final. Woll was asked by Senator Cortez Masto about a Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general report about Puerto Rico relief funding; Woll said he had cooperated with the IG and reiterated that he would follow legal requirements if confirmed.

At the Federal Reserve, Michelle Bowman, nominated to be vice chair for supervision, framed her priorities as reforming and refocusing supervision, restoring regulatory tailoring for community and regional banks, promoting sensible innovation, and increasing transparency. Bowman told the committee that “supervisory expectations should not surprise regulated firms” and defended a tailored approach for smaller banks. Democrats, led by Warren, pressed Bowman about the Fed’s response to recent market turmoil and asked whether she would immediately order stress tests of large banks to probe resilience to a trade-driven recession; Bowman said the stress-testing process for the year was already underway and would continue as planned but declined to say she would launch an immediate, ad hoc exercise explicitly tied to recent tariff announcements.

Bowman acknowledged shortcomings in U.S. supervision and said she would prioritize identifying and remediating long-term structural problems. She supported cost‑benefit analysis for regulatory action and said regulators should coordinate to provide “clear standards.” On Basel III endgame and international capital standards, Bowman said some provisions could increase regulation for U.S. banks but that the Board should determine what is appropriate for U.S. institutions.

John Hurley, the nominee to be undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes at Treasury, described the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) as central to disrupting money flows that support terrorist groups, organized crime and proliferation. Hurley told senators he would marshal TFI’s authorities to maximize tactical and strategic effect and emphasized interagency and international cooperation. He answered questions about the IMF’s special drawing rights and sanctions enforcement, and said precise policy choices would depend on intelligence and interagency direction once in office.

Senators asked Hurley about cryptocurrency and illicit finance. Hurley said he is concerned by crypto-enabled laundering (citing public reporting about DPRK-linked crypto thefts) and indicated FinCEN and TFI should focus on the on- and off-ramps into the regulated financial system and on tools to detect uses of mixers and obfuscation techniques. He endorsed aggressive follow-up and partner engagement to reduce evasion of sanctions.

David Fogle, nominated to be assistant secretary of commerce for global markets and director general of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, said his priorities would include lowering non‑tariff barriers and coordinating with agencies such as the Export‑Import Bank to support U.S. exporters. Several senators from manufacturing and tourism states warned that tariff volatility was already prompting companies to pause expansions and that higher input costs would raise housing construction and other costs for consumers.

Landon Hyde, nominated to be assistant secretary for export administration at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), emphasized export controls aimed at protecting advanced U.S. technologies from PRC acquisition. Hyde and other witnesses discussed closing legal and enforcement gaps (for example, applying export restrictions to subsidiaries) and working with allies on export-control and sanctions enforcement.

Throughout the hearing, senators raised consequences of the administration’s tariff moves. Senator Elizabeth Warren cited market volatility and warned tariffs risked “higher prices, lower pay, lost jobs,” and she quoted the National Association of Home Builders’ estimate that recent tariff actions could raise the cost of a new mid-size home by $7,500 to $10,000. Republicans generally defended the nominees and said deregulation and trade changes would boost growth and investment; several senators urged action against export-control evasion by PRC-linked entities and Hong Kong-based intermediaries.

The committee took no vote during the hearing. Chairman Scott swore in the nominees and directed written statements into the hearing record. Senators were permitted to submit follow-up written questions by the committee’s deadline.

Why it matters: these nominees would lead agencies that shape mortgage markets, bank supervision, sanctions and export controls — areas senators said are central to housing affordability, market stability and national-security competition. The hearing surfaced sharp partisan differences over tariffs, regulatory tailoring, the Fed’s independence and the enforcement posture on sanctions and export controls.

The committee adjourned after roughly two and a half hours of testimony and questioning; senators will continue their oversight in writing and during subsequent steps of the confirmation process.