Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced Tuesday that she will attempt to block President Trump’s nominee to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over her role in the administration’s policies that have led to immigrant families detained at the border being separated.
The nominee, Office of Management and Budget official Kathy Kraninger, already faced a tough confirmation vote based on her lack of experience.
Now, the confirmation process has the added variable of the politically explosive situation along the border, a controversy that has consumed Washington in recent days.
Kraninger is tied to it because she oversaw the budget process for the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies involved in border policy.
“Kathy Kraninger helps oversee the agencies that are ripping kids from their parents,” Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on Twitter. “I will put a hold on her nomination – & fight it at every step – until she turns over all documents about her role in this.”
Kathy Kraninger helps oversee the agencies that are ripping kids from their parents. Now @realDonaldTrump wants her to run the @CFPB. I will put a hold on her nomination – & fight it at every step – until she turns over all documents about her role in this.#FamiliesBelongTogether pic.twitter.com/wrW7oXP3Eo
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 19, 2018
Along with fellow Democratic senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Warren asked Kraninger to supply a list of material related to the administration’s zero tolerance policy on illegal border crossings resulting in family separations.
Democrats have sought to stop or delay many of Trump’s nominees for government positions and federal judgeships.
In the case of Kraninger, however, a delay might work to the administration’s advantage. The longer Kraninger is held up in the confirmation, the longer the acting director, Mick Mulvaney, can stay in the role and aggressively pursue an agenda of limiting the agency’s involvement in markets.
