U.S. Treasury domestic finance nominee pledges resilient debt market

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's nominee to head domestic finance operations at the U.S. Treasury Department said on Tuesday it is critical to ensure that the Treasury debt market operates well in times of stress.

Nellie Liang, a former Federal Reserve economist who was nominated as Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, appeared with three other nominees for senior posts at the department at a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing.

Liang said that if confirmed she would "provide an assessment of changes in this market that have arisen from technological advances and shifts in market participants' behavior, and recommend policies, as needed, to ensure a resilient Treasury securities market."

She also said it would be her "priority to promote an efficient and stable financial system that can meet the needs of a dynamic economy."

The others who appeared were: Lily Batchelder, nominated as assistant secretary for tax policy; Ben Harris as assistant secretary for economic policy; and Jonathan Davidson as assistant secretary for legislative affairs.

Batchelder, a New York University tax law professor who served as the Senate Finance Committee's chief tax counsel from 2010 to 2014, pledged to work with Congress on tax policy that advances Biden's goals to foster economic recovery, promote equality and address the challenges of climate change.

"Tax benefits can curtail or exacerbate our vast disparities by income, wealth, race, ethnicity, gender and geography," Batchelder said in prepared remarks. "At the same time, well-constructed and well-implemented tax policy can minimize gaming and distortions to business activity, while poorly constructed tax policy can do the reverse."

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Will Dunham)