I’ve been campaigning for Obama to appoint Elizabeth Warren to head the CFPB for months now. On Monday, I explained how Obama could use a provision in the financial reform law to put Warren to work right away, without Senate confirmation. That is exactly what he will do, within a week.
President Barack Obama plans to name Wall Street critic Elizabeth Warren to a special advisory role helping to set up the new U.S. consumer financial watchdog, Democratic sources said on Wednesday.
Warren, a 61-year-old Harvard law professor, would report to Obama and the Treasury Department in a position that would bypass the Senate confirmation process.
An announcement was likely to come on Friday.
Warren is reviled by many on Wall Street for her calls to crack down on abusive lending practices by financial firms, but she is a hero to liberal activists and consumer groups.
The landmark U.S. financial reform law, enacted in July, mandated the creation of the consumer bureau, which will have broad powers to write and enforce regulations covering mortgages, credit cards and other financial products.
Warren, whom Obama has referred to as a "dear friend," came up with the idea for the consumer agency.
Several senators, including Democratic Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and moderate Republican Olympia Snowe, have expressed opposition to putting Warren in charge of the consumer agency without seeking Senate confirmation.
Republican Senator Bob Corker wrote a letter to Obama urging him not to bypass the confirmation process. He said it was "an important tool to ensure that a qualified, nonpartisan individual will head this agency and be accountable to Congress, taxpayers and the safety and soundness of the banking system."
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley welcomed Obama’s decision but said he still hoped Obama would nominate Warren to a permanent position as head of the consumer bureau.
"There isn’t a candidate more fit to get the new consumer financial protection agency up and running than Elizabeth Warren," Merkley said.
"She has been a tireless advocate for financial fairness for working families and was the driving force behind the creation of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Reuters>
I’ve head some buzz that this appointment proves that Obama does not really want Warren to head the bureau, but those who are making that claim, clearly don’t understand the implications here, as I explained in Monday’s article referenced above. Even Rachel Maddow did not fully understand, saying that Obama appointed Warren to “something”, but she and Chris Hayes recognized just how good it actually is.
Now the next step is for Obama to nominate her to fill the post permanently.
12 Responses to “Obama To Make the Right Appointment, at Last!”
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Really dig this woman. Wall street is afraid of her, Chris Dodd always rebukes her, Most of all the three wisemen Obama has now running financial matters fear her.
That makes her perfect in my eyes….
Right on, Tim!
Dodd and Snowe can piss and moan all they want. They know her background very well and they also know that just as with most every other appointment the past two democrat presidents have made they would be held up in the Senate. Just goes to show two more souls sold to the Demon Finance.
You’re right, Mark. That’s why doing what I called for on Monday is such a good idea.
Dodd is worried because he realizes Warren will make his next life as a lobbyist a living Hell! And Lord knows Dodd deserves every third degree burn he’s going to get from that Hell!
You are soooo reight on that!
It’s about freaking time! 🙄
It certainly is!
In any case, already Obamasculated (since the “CFP” BUREAU is Not INDEPENDENT of Geithner’s Club FED)!
Bruce, I made that very same point the other day – I believe that it should be a cabinet level position. BUT we can’t always get what we want and theirs is a Chinese wall between the CFPB, Treasury, and the Fed, so that’s better that nothing. Besides, Timmeh will get his hand and possibly his arm ripped off by Warren if he chooses try to influence her. And then she’d beat him to death with it. I’m good with that. I just want her writing all the policies and procedures, vision and mission statements with Congress staying the hell out of her way. They are already threatened by her appointment and she can light the fear of God if anyone gets in her way. She could just steamroll them too. 😈
Lisa, see my reply to Bruce. While I, like you, would prefer it to be a cabinet level post, this is very close, because of her direct line to the President.
Bruce, you are incorrect. Bernanke is in charge of the Fed, not Geithner. The CFPB is an independent entity within the Fed, but not under it. Warren does not report to Bernanke. She does report to Geithner, but is not under his authority, because she also reports direct to the President.