President Trump vowed to restore the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after being a “total disaster” under leadership of the recently departed Richard Cordray.
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administrations pick. Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!”, Trump tweeted Saturday.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administrations pick. Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2017
The president’s tweet on the matter came after Trump picked Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to served as acting head of the agency charged with protecting consumers in the financial markets created in response to the financial crisis that began in 2007.
The pick wasn’t without controversy. Trump chose Mulvaney on Friday to lead to bureau while retaining also his position as head of OMB. However, the outgoing Cordray announced he was tapping his chief of staff, Leandra English, to be his successor.
In the ensuing debate on who has the authority to pick an interim successor, the White House expressed confidence Saturday that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act gives the president the authority to appoint someone to oversee the agency.
But on the other side of the debate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who helped spearhead the establishment of CFPB, argued in a series of tweets that the vacancy should be filled by the deputy director — English — as directed by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which created the CFPB.
The Dodd-Frank Act is clear: if there is a @CFPB Director vacancy, the Deputy Director becomes Acting Director. @realDonaldTrump can’t override that. pic.twitter.com/r949ccaJAb
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 25, 2017
Former Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., one of the co-authors of Dodd-Frank, echoed Warren, telling CNN on Saturday that the law intended for the agency to be independent and part of that involved giving Cordray “this kind of autonomy.”
Countering their argument, a Justice Department memo, dated Nov. 25, from Steven Engel, assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, said the Federal Vacancies Reform Act trumps Dodd-Frank. “The fact that the Deputy Director may serve as Acting Director by operation of the statute, however, does not displace the President’s authority under the Vacancies Reform Act,” Engel wrote.
Warren went on to say the matter should be resolved in the courts as Trump is “causing chaos & market uncertainty.”
By ignoring Dodd-Frank & naming his own acting @CFPB Director, @realDonaldTrump is causing chaos & market uncertainty. So I agree with Rich Cordray: this needs to be decided in the courts.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 25, 2017
A White House official said Saturday that Cordray is “trying to provoke” a legal battle while the Trump administration has worked to avoid one.
Cordray, the first director of CFPB, was appointed by President Barack Obama, and had served since 2012.
Republicans have long clashed with Cordray, and had pressured Trump to fire him once in the White House. GOP lawmakers desire to curb the agency’s powers and objected particularly to Cordray’s pursuit of new rules on consumer products.
