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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, architect and founder of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, says agency is "the law of the land, and here to stay."
July 17 -
The Senate's approval of Richard Cordray's nomination to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does more than give the agency a permanent director: it also removes Republicans' biggest bargaining chip in their longstanding push to force key structural changes at the agency.
July 16
Elizabeth Warren must have relished her turn as the Senate's presiding officer late Tuesday.
It's a ceremonial title that rotates among members of the majority party. But the Massachusetts Democrat got to hold the gavel during the final vote confirming Richard Cordray as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau the agency she conceived and helped set up.
Warren herself nearly became the CFPB's first head, but likely would have faced significant opposition if she had been nominated. Cordray also faced a long political battle, which finally ended Tuesday as part of a deal between Democrats and Republicans on a slate of pending nominations.
So to do the honors as the final tally in Cordray's favor became official surely gratified Warren. Almost as much, perhaps, as being elected to a Congress whose members clashed with her during her stint at the Treasury Department or joining the Senate Banking Committee alongside lawmakers who had fought against the agency's creation.
