September 30, 2011
A Democratic aide says the Senate Banking Committee will likely vote this week on whether to approve Richard Cordray as the leader of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to Reuters. The vote is expected to take place Oct. 6, but the exact date is not yet confirmed.
The CFPB, whose responsibilities include overseeing credit cards and mortgage regulations, was ongoing source of contention between Democrats and Republicans even before the agency’s July 21 opening.
“Democrats have the votes to move Cordray’s nomination out of the committee to the Senate floor, but that will likely be as far as it gets for the foreseeable future as political tensions remain high over the creation of the CFPB,” reports Reuters.
Several GOP lawmakers have vowed not to confirm any CFPB nominee until changes to the agency’s leadership structure are made.
“The changes being pushed by Republicans are: Having the bureau run by a board rather than a director; subjecting its budget to annual congressional approval; and giving other regulators more authority over bureau regulations,” explains Reuters. “Democrats have balked at these demands calling them an attempt to weaken the CFPB before it has a chance to get up and running fully.”
Cordray, a University of Chicago Law School graduate and former Supreme Court Clerk, first began working at the CFPB in December after narrowly losing a re-election bid for Ohio attorney general to Republican Mike DeWine, who had hinted that Cordray was “antibusiness,” according to the New York Times.
Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren, who had been leading efforts to get the bureau up and running ahead of its official opening, has entered the Massachusetts Senate race opposite incumbent Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA).
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