The White House is downplaying the potential for a showdown at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday, when President Trump’s pick to lead the agency shows up along with the pick by the agency’s former director.
The Bureau, created in 2010, enforces consumer protection laws and develops other regulations on financial products that it considers to be in the public interest. Republicans are hoping to reform the agency. An article in the current edition of THE WEEKLY STANDARD proposes eliminating it entirely.
The latest Bureau controversy stems from the departure of its Obama-appointed director, Richard Cordray, who announced earlier this month that he would step down on November 30. On Friday, November 24, Corday announced his immediate resignation and designated his deputy, Leandra English, as the new acting director.
But also on Friday, Trump announced that he was installing Mick Mulvaney as acting director at the Bureau (in addition to Mulvaney’s responsibilities as budget director).
The Bureau and the administration have different views of what the law says regarding the agency’s temporary director. The law creating the CFPB says that the outgoing director can name an acting director until Congress confirms a permanent replacement. But the Vacancies Act, a 1998 law controlling the filling of government openings, generally gives that power to the president.
A senior administration official said Saturday that the law is clearly on the White House’s side and that this view is backed by the Office of Legal Counsel.
“Mick Mulvaney will be the acting director and will take up his office at the CFPB,” the official said. “We think he’ll show up Monday, go into his office and start working.”
But English will be there, too. It’s unclear if there will be court action to determine who runs the agency. Trump is expected to name a permanent replacement within weeks.
“I know it makes a better story if there’s a clash of two directors, but it’s not clear that will happen,” the official said. “There’s a good chance director Mulvaney will come in Monday mornings and that will be the end of things.”
