The Consumer Financial Protection Board’s general counsel has issued a memo to top leaders of the agency that Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney is in charge of the agency starting Monday.
“Questions have been raised whether the president has the authority under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA) to designate Mick Mulvaney, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, as Acting Director of CFPB following the resignation of Richard Cordray as of midnight, Friday, November 24, 2017,” general counsel Mary McLeod wrote to top staffers.
“This confirms my oral advice to the Senior Leadership Team that the answer is ‘yes,'” she wrote.
The memo reflects a dispute that will continue into Monday, involving who will lead the controversial agency.
Cordray resigned on Friday, and named a deputy, Leandra English, just before he left. English says that makes her the new acting CFPB director.
But President Trump said Mulvaney would take charge, and in response, English sued.
Mulvaney was expected to report to work Monday at the agency, but protests were planned.
Still, McLeod’s memo seems to undercut English’s argument that she should now be in charge of the agency.
“I advise all Bureau personnel to act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the Acting Director of the CFPB,” she wrote.
McLeod argued that rules outlining the succession of leadership within the CFPB do not supersede other rules that also allow the president to make appointments.
