Due to reported events over the past few hours, the question in the headline of this post is now, regrettably, legitimate. I don’t know about those reading this, but I’d really appreciate a straight answer from the White House on it, too.
For clarification’s sake, I’m not saying that the White House is caving-in on their appointment of Richard Cordray as the inaugural Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But others, far more credible than yours truly, are now wondering aloud about this matter.
This story (here’s a link to Bloomberg’s version of it) is what I’m referencing, in terms of what’s now being reported in the MSM during the overnight: “Date to Run Consumer Bureau as Warren Returns to Harvard.”
Date to Run Consumer Bureau as Warren Returns to Harvard
Bloomberg Media
By Carter Dougherty - Jul 26, 2011 4:59 PM ET
Raj Date, a former banker, will replace Elizabeth Warren as adviser to the Treasury secretary for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Aug. 1, the Treasury Department said today.
Date, the associate director of the bureau for research, markets and regulations, will run the day-to-day operations of the new agency, which officially began work on July 21, Treasury said today in a statement…
…
…Obama nominated Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general, to be the first director of the agency, on July 18. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the bureau’s director must be confirmed by the Senate.
When a director is in place, the agency officially becomes an independent bureau within the Federal Reserve. Until then, it doesn’t have the new powers created by Dodd-Frank, such as the ability to supervise non-bank financial firms…
Notice that the folks at Bloomberg, one of Wall Street’s truly institutionalized media outlets, don’t even mention the possibility of a recess appointment for Cordray!
And, here’s the WaPo’s version of the same story…
Raj Date to replace Elizabeth Warren at consumer bureau
By Brady Dennis
Washington Post
July 27th, 2011
Raj Date, a top deputy to Elizabeth Warren at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will take over day-to-day operations of the new watchdog agency when she departs at the end of this month, Treasury officials announced Tuesday.
Warren has served since September overseeing the creation of the bureau, which officially opened its doors last week. She hired scores of staffers, met with bankers and lawmakers across the country, and defended the agency to a skeptical financial industry and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
In the process, Warren became a political lightning rod. She had hoped to stay on as the bureau’s inaugural director, and undoubtedly was the first choice of most consumer advocates. Nevertheless, President Obama last week instead nominated Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general who this year became chief of the CFPB’s enforcement division.
While Cordray waits for a Senate confirmation that might be a long time coming — Republicans have vowed to block any nominee unless Obama agrees to fundamental changes in the bureau’s structure, including wanting the bureau led by a five-member commission rather than a single independent director — Date will assume Warren’s current role…
And, yes, an editorial in Wednesday’s edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer starts to wonder aloud…
Release the hounds
Editorial
Philadelphia Inquirer
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Federal legislation following Wall Street's collapse created a new consumer protection agency, but banking and investment interests seem determined to keep the watchdog from even taking a walk.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is being thwarted by efforts to reduce its effectiveness. First, opponents blocked Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, whose ideas birthed the agency, from being appointed its director. Now, CFPB foes, including Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), are trying to prevent the appointment of her top lieutenant, Richard Cordray, to the head post unless the agency is further weakened.
Some of the same investment interests that sold the exotic financial instruments that paved the way to a consumer-credit crisis don't want the CFPB to have broad powers, including supervising lenders, simplifying mortgage documents, and probing credit-card agreements for hidden fees…
…
…It has been a year since President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank law, which is supposed to lead to better regulation of banking and investment firms. The CFPB is supposed to be one of the crown jewels of the financial reforms. But it will be as useless as a rock if its detractors keep chipping away at its powers before the agency can gain traction.
I’m looking forward to the comments on this from the community. But, again, I want to point out that I’d really like to hear the White House’s answer to my question in the headline of this post.