Mary Jo White and Richard Cordray, nominees to head the Securities and Exchange Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are one step closer to confirmation following a vote by the Senate Banking Committee this morning.

The committee voted favorably, 21-1, to advance White's nomination to the full Senate. Cordray, despite opposition from committee Republicans, still managed a 12-10 vote.

The lone vote against White was Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).  In a statement he questioned her status as a Wall Street insider, specifically her time spent as a partner with the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, representing Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, General Electric, and Goldman Sachs (defending board member Rajat Gupta against insider trading charges).

 “I don't question Mary Jo White's integrity or skill as an attorney,” Brown said. “But I do question Washington's long-held bias towards Wall Street and its inability to find watchdogs outside of the very industry that they are meant to police. Mary Jo White will have plenty of opportunities to prove me wrong. I hope she will.”

“Too often we have seen public servants who settle for the status quo, instead of demanding accountability,” he added.

While White seems on-track to confirmation, with bipartisan support, the fate of Cordray's tenure at the CFPB is far less certain. Forty-three Republican senators have pledged to vote against him, citing concerns with the constitutionality of his initial recess appointment and the independent nature of the Bureau. Created by the Dodd-Frank Act, it is funded through the Federal Reserve without Congressional budget oversight.

Under Senate rules, Cordray will need at least 60 votes in order to have his full nomination voted on. Democrats, although the majority, only account for 55 votes.