Shelby Calls Aspects of CFPB “Dangerous” in Op-Ed

7/24/2011

The following is a selection from an op-ed published in the The Opelika-Auburn News written by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL):

“Last Monday, President Obama nominated former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created under the Dodd-Frank Act.

Many on the left are disappointed that the president did not choose the Bureau’s most vocal advocate, Elizabeth Warren, who currently serves as an assistant to the president and adviser to the Treasury secretary. Republicans, on the other hand, are focused on the key issue: Regardless of who runs it, will the bureau be sufficiently accountable to the American people?…

In its current form, the bureau is headed by a single director. Over a five-year term, the director will have unfettered authority over thousands of American businesses, not just banks. While the bureau receives hundreds of millions of dollars of public money annually, the elected representatives of the American people have no say in how it spends this money. Moreover, other regulators have no meaningful ability to prevent bureau mandates that may threaten the financial health of banks. This is dangerous because American businesses depend on banks, large and small, for funding to grow and to create jobs.” 

Click here to read the full op-ed.