The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains officiallyleaderless.

Although a majority of senators voted late Thursday morning tosupport the nomination of Richard Cordray to be the CFPB'sdirector, it didn't get the needed 60 votes to overcome a GOPfilibuster.

The count was 53-45, with one voting present and one senatorabsent. Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts was the sole GOP vote infavor of Cordray. He's facing a stiff re-election challenge fromElizabeth Warren, the Harvard professor who helped create theagency.

Republicans have vowed to block the confirmation of anyone torun the agency until President Obama and Senate Democrats agree tostructural changes, including having the CFPB run by a five-memberboard rather than a single director. The House has passed a measure that would do that.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) took thefloor before the vote and criticized Republicans for what hedescribed as an “unprecedented and irresponsible display ofpolitical gamesmanship.''

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the panel's top Republican, saidthe changes are needed to make the agency more accountable. Inaddition, he dismissed the argument made by Democrats that withouta permanent director the CFPB can't regulate non-bank entities suchas payday lenders and bill collectors.

He noted that many of those businesses are under the purview ofthe Federal Trade Commission and state regulators.

Corday's nomination was approved in October by the Senate Banking Committee along partylines.

Although its regulations are applicable to all financialinstitutions, it only has direct supervisory authority overinstitutions with assets of more than $10 billion. Among creditunions, that includes only Navy Federal, PenFed and StateEmployees' CU of North Carolina.

The agency was created by the Dodd-Frank Act. Raj Date, whosetitle is Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on theCFPB, has been serving as its de facto director.