Obama nominates head of new consumer agency

US President Barack Obama announces the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau © AFP Nicholas Kamm

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Monday named former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency Republicans have sharply criticized.

The CFPB, which was a centerpiece of last year’s financial regulatory law, is intended to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis by overseeing the mortgage and credit card industry.

The agency was spearheaded by Elizabeth Warren, who many consumer advocates were hoping would take over as its head.

But Republicans, who have enough Senate seats to block any nomination, had already said Warren would not be confirmed.

In introducing Cordray, who had been working with Warren as the agency’s director of enforcement, Obama made clear he expected a fight.

“There is an army of lobbyists and lawyers right now working to water down the protections and the reforms that we passed,” he said.

“They’ve already spent tens of millions of dollars this year to try to weaken the laws that are designed to protect consumers. And they’ve got allies in Congress who are trying to undo the progress that we’ve made. We’re not going to let that happen,” added Obama.

White House spokesman Jay Carney reiterated the president’s intent.

“The president strongly believes that the board as it is constructed is the right thing for the American people. I mean, it has not been that long since the financial crisis led to the deepest recession since the Great Depression, and that millions of Americans are still feeling the effects of that.”

The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, however, said Republicans would block confirmation of Cordray or anyone else until Obama agrees to make “this massive new government bureaucracy more accountable and transparent to the American people.”

McConnell said the agency will have “countless unintended consequences for individuals and small businesses that will constrict credit, stifle growth, and destroy jobs,” adding: “That’s why everybody from florists to community bankers opposed its creation.”

© AFP — Published at Activist Post with license