Elizabeth Warren’s appointment as the effective head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is all but certain. Last month, we explained why we consider Warren unfit to lead the agency, given her questionable and seemingly biased research methods. The recently passed Dodd-Frank Act, which established the CFPB, requires that the Senate must confirm the president’s nominee to lead the new agency. If President Obama nominated Warren, Senate confirmation hearings would provide an opportunity for rigorously examining her track record. However, it seems that Obama is now planning to sidestep the nomination procedure, exclude the Senate from the decision-making process, and set Warren up as a de facto head.
The confirmation process is intended to protect the integrity of political appointments by requiring that nominees answer for themselves under Senate scrutiny. This is not the first time Obama has taken matters into his own hands. In March, he stirred up controversy by making fifteen recess appointments. He again raised opponents’ ire with the recess appointment of Donald Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in July, as well as four others in August. However, this latest maneuver regarding Warren’s appointment has particularly troubling implications because of the nature of the agency she would lead. The Dodd-Frank Act created the CFPB with the aim of improving banks’ and financial institutions’ transparency and disclosure to consumers. Now it seems that the agency will begin in a manner that directly violates the principle upon which it was established.
Obama pledged fairness and transparency in government to voters during his campaign. If he circumvents the rules governing appointments to put Warren in charge of the CFPB, it will be a troubling way to begin an agency that is intended to ensure fairness and transparency for consumers. But what more fitting way of launching the leadership of someone we can expect to serve preset policy goals over the impartial protection of consumer interests?
Image by the Congressional Oversight Panel.