Amending the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, tomorrow the Senate will consider Kansan Michelle Bowman to serve on the Federal Board of Governors for the seat reserved for a community banker or a community bank regulator. To understand her qualifications, we should first look at the position for which she has been nominated.

The original Federal Reserve Act requires appointments to the Board to include a representative of the agriculture community. When Congress further defined the Fed's representation, it created a specific seat for someone with a community bank background, having either worked in or supervised a community bank. Miki Bowman has done both.

Miki's experience as both Kansas State bank commissioner and her time at Farmers and Drovers Bank in Council Grove, KS, satisfies both of those statutory requirements, and she is even more qualified with her impressive background in public service and the private sector. In total, Miki Bowman has served as bank supervisor and regulator for nearly 2 years and has been a community banker for 7 years.

Miki was nominated April 16, 2018, as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors as the Community Bank Representative for the remainder of a 14-year term expiring January 31, 2020. If confirmed, she will represent Region 8, the St. Louis region of Missouri, for the Federal Reserve.

Miki will also be the first person nominated and confirmed by the Senate to hold the seat specifically reserved for one member with demonstrated primary experience working in or supervising community banks. She would be one of seven members of the Board.

Miki's early years echo that of many Kansans. She attended the University of Kansas to earn a bachelor's degree and then went on to earn a law degree from Washburn University.

After graduation, Miki was called to public service where she served in a variety of capacities, including as a staff member for Senator Dole and counsel for several House committees, Director of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs for FEMA, and a Deputy Assistant Secretary and Policy Adviser at the Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Tom Ridge.

Following that, she and her husband moved to London, where Miki consulted on government and public affairs.

Like many Kansans who love and appreciate our State, Miki made her way back home. She returned to Council Grove to take the helm of the family bank for the next 7 years. Far from London and Washington, DC, Miki felt the need to return to her community to make a good life for her children and to serve her community.

Once again called to public service, Miki was nominated by Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to serve as the Kansas bank commissioner, a position she has held since February 2017 and still holds to this day.

Miki's experience as both Kansas State bank commissioner and her time at Farmers and Drovers Bank in Council Grove satisfies both statutory requirements with her impressive background in public service and the private sector.

Community banks are an important part of communities and small cities across the country. They extend credit for homes, small businesses, and farm equipment, while also sponsoring Little League Baseball teams and the school band.

In addition, Miki understands the role that relationships play in the approach to business. In rural Kansas and across America, community banks act as economic engines, leveraging relationships with local community members that rely on trust and honesty.

Miki could tell story after story about the friendships and high level of trust she has built with her customers. It is a different kind of banking and one that will help make certain that rural America can thrive well into the future.

I urge my colleagues to vote tomorrow in favor of Miki Bowman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors so we can bring her experience and unique perspectives to the Federal Reserve Board.

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Mr. MORAN. 4054 be modified with the changes that are at the desk.

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Mr. MORAN. Res. 65; that there be up to an hour of debate on the motion equally divided between the proponents and the opponents; and that following the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate vote in relation to the motion to discharge; further, that if the motion to discharge is agreed to, the joint resolution be eligible for the expedited procedures under the act.

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Mr. MORAN.

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