On Nov. 17, a group of 27 Democrats from the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter to Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell urging that republicans agree to a full Senate vote on the nomination of Richard Cordray to become the first Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director.
“Mr. Cordray is eminently qualified, yet Senate Republicans have vowed not only to block his conformation, but also to block any nominee to head the CFPB,” the group wrote. “By law, the failure to confirm a director leaves the agency without its full authority to protect American families.”
The letter states that service members and the elderly are most at risk while the CFPB sits without a director.
“Our military families and the elderly are facing some of the most difficult financial times in their lives, yet republicans in the Senate are actively preventing the CFPB from protecting them from predatory and unscrupulous financial products,” the letter continued.
On May 2, 44 Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Barack Obama stating they would not support a nominee for director of the bureau until the CFPB’s structure is reformed.
“We write to express our concerns about the lack of accountability in the structure of the CFPB,” the Republicans wrote at that time. “As presently organized, far too much power will be vested in the CFPB director without any effective checks and balances.
Accordingly, we will not support the consideration of any nominee, regardless of party affiliation, to be the CFPB director until the structure of the CFPB is reformed.”
On Oct. 6, the Senate Banking Committee determined that Cordray was the right person to head the bureau and voted to send his nomination to the full Senate. The democrat’s letter urged Senate Republicans to take the next step in the appointment process.
“The idea that any federal legislator would stand in the way of ensuring comprehensive financial protections for military families, the elderly and all Americans seems unfathomable, yet 44 Senate Republicans are doing just that. We ask that you heed the words of Holly Petraeus, who, when asked what one thing Congress could do to help the CFPB better protect service members said, ‘Confirm a director for us so we can use the full array of what’s there.’”