Forty-four Senate Republicans sent a letter yesterday to President Obama saying they will not support the consideration of any nominee, regardless of party affiliation to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until it is restructured, according to an article by Edward Wyatt and Ben Protess in today's edition of The New York Times.
The bureau "has been one of Washington's drawn-out passion plays," the article said, "featuring bankers and financial companies that want to undermine the agency and have villainized Elizabeth Warren, the hard-edged Harvard law professor President Obama picked to start it."
"With 44 of 47 Republican senators digging in against the bureau, Democrats would be unable to gather the 60 votes necessary to end a filibuster and bring a vote on a nominee for director of the agency. That leaves the president with the option of a recess appointment, a move that would anger legislators whose support the president is likely to need to tackle other issues, like cutting the deficit and raising the debt," the article said.
"Already," the article continued, "three bills are pending in the House of Representatives to alter the agency's chater, making easier for othe regulators to overturn the bureau's rules and replacing its director with a five-person commission....The White House defended the agency's structure, saying it provided 'the strongest consumer protections in history.'"
"Mr. Obama appointed Ms. Warren last September as a special adviser to oversee the 'standing up' of the agency, and she has hired officials who will carry out the regulation of mortgage loans, credit cards, payday lenders and other sellers of financial products. But until the bureau has a formal director, it cannot write rules governing consumer finance or begin overseeing previously unregulated agencies like payday lenders. In some ways, Ms. Warren's own celebrity might be getting in the way of that effort. She is a dynamic public speaker who has for ears championed the right of the middle class to receive plain-English explanations of often-complex financial products. But that effort has drawn criticism from some bankers, who feel she has unfairly accused them o exploiting customers," the article said.
In an article in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal, Deborah Solomon wrote that "Senate Banking Chairman Tim Johnson (D., S.D.) blasted the Republican position, called it 'just another attempt by Republicans to delay and derail these critical new protections.'"
The bureau "has been one of Washington's drawn-out passion plays," the article said, "featuring bankers and financial companies that want to undermine the agency and have villainized Elizabeth Warren, the hard-edged Harvard law professor President Obama picked to start it."
"With 44 of 47 Republican senators digging in against the bureau, Democrats would be unable to gather the 60 votes necessary to end a filibuster and bring a vote on a nominee for director of the agency. That leaves the president with the option of a recess appointment, a move that would anger legislators whose support the president is likely to need to tackle other issues, like cutting the deficit and raising the debt," the article said.
"Already," the article continued, "three bills are pending in the House of Representatives to alter the agency's chater, making easier for othe regulators to overturn the bureau's rules and replacing its director with a five-person commission....The White House defended the agency's structure, saying it provided 'the strongest consumer protections in history.'"
"Mr. Obama appointed Ms. Warren last September as a special adviser to oversee the 'standing up' of the agency, and she has hired officials who will carry out the regulation of mortgage loans, credit cards, payday lenders and other sellers of financial products. But until the bureau has a formal director, it cannot write rules governing consumer finance or begin overseeing previously unregulated agencies like payday lenders. In some ways, Ms. Warren's own celebrity might be getting in the way of that effort. She is a dynamic public speaker who has for ears championed the right of the middle class to receive plain-English explanations of often-complex financial products. But that effort has drawn criticism from some bankers, who feel she has unfairly accused them o exploiting customers," the article said.
In an article in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal, Deborah Solomon wrote that "Senate Banking Chairman Tim Johnson (D., S.D.) blasted the Republican position, called it 'just another attempt by Republicans to delay and derail these critical new protections.'"
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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