Sen. David Perdue: Cordray is gone, let’s eliminate the CFPB
Neil W. McCabe
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The only Fortune 500 CEO serving in the Senate laid down a marker for Congress to either wipe out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or put someone in charge, who will dismantle its destructive programs and policies Thursday upon the news that Richard A. Cordray, the bureau’s director leaves his job Nov. 30.
“If we can’t immediately eliminate the CFPB or bring it under Congressional oversight, we need someone to take the helm who will help undo the damage that’s already been done,” said Sen. David A. Perdue Jr. (R.-Ga.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee.
Perdue said he is leading the effort in the Senate to hold the CFPB accountable, protect consumers’ personal information, and void the bureau’s regulatory overreaches,” he said.
Even the liberal-leaning DC Circuit Court ruled the CFPB is unconstitutionally structured and recommended giving more of the bureau’s powers to the president, he said.
“Together, we have made a real and lasting difference that has improved people’s lives,” wrote Cordray in an email to workers at his agency.
“I trust that new leadership will see that value also and work to preserve it –- perhaps in different ways than before, but desiring, as I have done, to serve in ways that benefit and strengthen our economy and our country,” he said.
Cordray, who is thought to be a candidate for Ohio governor, was at the center of a Senate stalemate in 2012.
The Dodd-Frank financial service regulation law created the bureau, but made it a part of the Treasury Department until its first director was confirmed by the Senate. Afterwards, the agency would become a part of the Federal Reserve, effectively alienated from congressional and executive oversight–so much so, that the CFPB would be funded by the Federal Reserve.
When in November 2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.), with the support of Sen. Robert P. Corker Jr. (R.-Tenn.) and Sen. John S. McCain III (R.-Ariz.), changed Senate rules to wipe out the filibuster for all personnel nominees, except for nominees to the Supreme Court, one of President Barack Obama’s nominees quickly approved by the Senate was Cordray.
“Together, we have made a real and lasting difference that has improved people’s lives,” Cordray said of the CFPB in the email. “I trust that new leadership will see that value also and work to preserve it –- perhaps in different ways than before, but desiring, as I have done, to serve in ways that benefit and strengthen our economy and our country.”
Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R.-Texas) said Cordray’s exit is a change to reset the CFPB.
“The bureau has an important mission,” Hensarling said.
“Properly designed and led, it can truly protect consumers by ensuring they have access to competitive markets that are vigorously policed for fraud,” he said. “Americans deserve the opportunity to choose the checking account they want, the mortgage they want and the credit card they want.”
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