A day after Richard Cordray?s bombshell appointment, he flatly asserted his authority to lead the nation?s new consumer watchdog agency even as the political fallout intensified.
Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, declared Thursday to a packed house at the Brookings Institution that his recess appointment by President Barack Obama ? a move that outraged Republicans ? is legitimate under the law and would withstand an inevitable challenge. But he also underscored his reputation as a bipartisan bridge-builder, promised he would work with the GOP and emphasized that all share the same goal: serving the American people.
Continue Reading?We really have the same issues at heart. I intend to build that relationship with Congress,? Cordray said, adding that his office is highly popular with the public and already is planning actions that will demonstrate why its authority is justified. The best way to win over skeptics on Capitol Hill, he added, is simply to ?keep our nose to the grindstone and keep doing our work.?
The business community and banking industry, however, continued to seethe over Obama?s installation of Cordray, and urged Senate Republicans to rise up against it.
Senators ?ought to think creatively about how to fight back using its other powers ? especially the power of the purse,? said a Wall Street Journal editorial, suggesting that the GOP needs to stand up to Obama?s ?contempt for Congress.? A legal challenge must be included in the arsenal, the editorial asserted: ?[P]rivate parties will have standing to sue if they are affected by one of Mr. Cordray?s rule-makings, and that?s when the courts may get a say? on the matter.
In an email to members, David H. Stevens, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, warned that Cordray?s appointment will escalate hostilities between the White House and the GOP, resulting in more legislative gridlock. Stevens also threw his weight behind Republicans? continued attempts for ?structural changes? that would make the agency bipartisan and fairer to business.
?In short, the CFPB?s influence on the financial services sector will be unprecedented, and MBA will continue to urge that appropriate institutional checks and balances be in place to ensure that the CFPB?s authority is used wisely and judiciously,? Stevens wrote.
Grover Norquist, president of the anti-tax activist group Americans for Prosperity, complained on POLITICO?s Arena Web page that Cordray?s appointment and other vacancies Obama filled during the Senate recess ?would be illegal if we had a Justice Department independent of the [Democratic National Committee]? and is proof of Obama?s ?continued war on small businesses.?
Tevi Troy, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former Health and Human Services official, also writing in Arena, warned the president?s move will ?further poison the Senate confirmation process. Whenever the president violates the norms of the confirmation process, he exacerbates existing tensions, and makes it harder for qualified, ethical and noncontroversial appointees to get confirmed.?
After Cordray?s appointment, several senators and business leaders challenged its validity. They made a two-fold argument: The Senate was technically in session when Obama made his move, and even if it had been in recess, as Obama claimed, the law that created the agency stipulates the CFPB director can only take power upon Senate confirmation.
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