Obama Demands Vote on His CFPB Nominee

December 11, 2011

President Barack Obama over the weekend continued to have strong words for Republicanlawmakers after they blocked a Senate vote on the nomination of former Ohio AG Richard Cordray to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

(Related: Durbin Statement on the Filibuster of Cordray’s Nomination to Head the CFPB)

Every day Congress fails to approve a CFPB director “is another day that dishonest businesses can target and take advantage of students, seniors andservice members,” the President said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address.

“So I refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer,” he continued, according to CBS News. “Financial institutions have plenty of high-powered lawyers and lobbyists looking out for them. It’s time consumers had someone on their side.”

Without a permanent director, the CFPB by law is not able to inherit its full scope of regulatory powers. Obama asserted that the CFPB is vital to protecting the average consumer against financial corruption.

“Today, America faces a make-or-break moment for the middle class,” he continued. “I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone engages in fair play.”

Watch his full address below: