WASHINGTON – The Senate Banking Committee on a partisan vote yesterday endorsed the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, despite all Republican members of the committee standing by their pledge to vote against the new consumer post.
By a 12-to-10, party-line vote the Republicans stood by their earlier pledge to decline anyone to head the fledgling agency until President Obama agrees to major changes in its structure. Forty-four Senate Republicans have agreed to the stance, enough to succeed in a filibuster under Senate rules that would permanently block the consumer nominee.
“Unfortunately Senate Republicans are blocking his confirmation, and in doing so they are blocking vital new protections for consumers, and putting community banks and credit unions at a disadvantage to their less-regulated competitors,” said Sen. Tim Johnson, Democratic chairman of the banking panel.
The nomination of Cordray, who has been helping create the new consumer agency, now goes for a vote before the full Senate, where it is almost certain to fail.
Republicans have joined together to oppose the consumer director until changes are made in the new agency, including creation of a five-member board to oversee it and new veto powers for board members over new rules. The stance succeeded in blocking Elizabeth Warren from being named the agency’s first director, prompting her to run for her own Senate seat in next year’s Massachusetts Democratic primary.
The absence of a director has hamstrung the new agency, to the approval of banks and credit unions, who see its potential to add new regulations and enforcement costs.
