Senate Dems Urge Republicans To Side With Main Street, Confirm Consumer Bureau Chief

By Andrea Salazar

Senate Banking Committee Democrats called on Republicans Wednesday to vote to confirm Richard Cordray —  the president’s nomination for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

President Obama nominated Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, to head the bureau in July. However, Senate Republicans have promised to block his confirmation until the agency’s powers are limited.

But at the Wednesday news conference in support of Cordray’s nomination, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) argued that Cordray’s confirmation is necessary to keep community banks and credit unions competitive.

“You put them at a competitive disadvantage by not having a director, because payday lenders, check cashing places, pawn brokers, the types of loans going to military families, that all goes largely unregulated without a director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” Menendez said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a federal agency that came out of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Its mission, as stated on the bureau’s website is to “make markets for consumer financial products and services work for Americans — whether they are applying for a mortgage, choosing among credit cards, or using any number of other consumer financial products.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said that not confirming a director is “sort of like saying, ‘sorry, you can’t have a commissioner of the FDA until you repeal all the food, drug and safety laws in the country.’ Doesn’t make sense.”

The Senate is expected to vote on Cordray’s nomination Thursday.

“Voting for Richard Cordray means you’re on the side of people on Main Street. Voting against him, means you’re on the side of Wall Street,” Menendez said.