Nomination of Joshua Frost
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Joshua Frost to be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets. While by most accounts Mr. Frost is qualified for this position, I will vote against his nomination out of growing concerns that the Treasury Department has been derelict in its responsibilities to the Senate Finance Committee and its members.
The most recent example of Treasury thumbing its nose at the committee is the unprecedented delay of Secretary Yellen in agreeing to testify before the committee on the President's budget. Typically, the Treasury Secretary agrees to testify before the Finance Committee the week that the President releases his budget. Since 2005, the only other time a Treasury Secretary testified before the committee more than 3 days after the release of the President's budget was Secretary Geithner in 2009, and he appeared just 6 days after the President released his budget.
This year, 37 days have passed since the President unveiled his budget, and Secretary Yellen has yet to agree on a date to come before the committee. Finance Committee members have been informed that the earliest Secretary Yellen will appear before the committee is sometime in June, more than 2 months after the release of the President's budget. The reason given for this unprecedented delay is that Secretary Yellen is too busy to fit the Finance Committee into her schedule. This excuse rings hollow when just last week she was able to find time in her busy schedule to give the keynote address at an event held at the liberal Brookings Institution.
So Secretary Yellen has time in her busy schedule to address the D.C. liberal intelligentsia at the Brookings Institution, but can't find time to answer the questions of elected Members of Congress and their constituents? This is unacceptable, and the Treasury Department must be held to account for shirking its responsibilities. In light of this, I intend to vote against the nomination of Mr. Frost to be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets. Vote on Frost Nomination
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