When Richard Cordray makes his first trip to Capitol Hill as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau he will be entering the political equivalent of the lions’ den.
Cordray is scheduled to testify Tuesday before a House subcommittee about his plans for running the new agency.
When the former Ohio attorney general was named to the position by President Obama in a recess appointment, to circumvent Senate Republicans who blocked his confirmation, panel chair Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said Obama “should stop allowing his Chicago political campaign to make his Washington policy decisions. The unprecedented appointment of Mr. Cordray runs counter to the constitutional requirements for a recess appointment and Obama’s own campaign pledge to run ‘the most transparent administration in history.’”
McHenry’s panel is the Oversight Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs.
McHenry, like most House Republicans, opposed the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill, which created the CFPB. The subcommittee held two contentious hearings on the bureau, at which Elizabeth Warren, who set up the bureau, testified.
Tuesday’s hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.
