Here's an exclusive from Jake Tapper at ABCNEWS, which is quite real, and not based on Fox News in any way whatsoever:
President Obama will announce this week that Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor who first proposed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will be named to a special position reporting to both him and to the Treasury Department and tasked with heading the effort to get the new federal agency standing, a knowledgeable Democrat told ABC News.
This is good news, as I've said before. Check below the jump to see why:
Naming Warren as an assistant or counselor to both the president and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner would allow the president to bypass a Senate confirmation process that could prove lengthy and contentious.
"I’m concerned about all Senate confirmations these days" including if he were to "nominate somebody for dog catcher," the president said Friday when asked if he was concerned about Warren’s ability to be confirmed. "I’ve got people who have been waiting for six months to get confirmed who nobody has an official objection to and who were voted out of committee unanimously, and I can’t get a vote on them."
Since nominees facing the confirmation process also enter a period of public silence, avoiding the confirmation process would also allow Warren to publicly discuss the agency and its benefits, which the president is eager for her to do.
This makes sense, and it's a double win-win for progressive Democrats, and those in Congress heading into the mid-term elections. I'm very excited about this, and it will show Americans that there's a real consumer advocate for them in government.
UPDATE: HuffingtonPost is reporting this as well:
The White House has tapped Elizabeth Warren as a special adviser to help set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ABC News is reporting. The move allows her to act as an interim head of the CFPB and will enable her to begin setting up the agency immediately and prevent the GOP from filibustering her nomination. Warren could serve until Obama nominates a permanent director -- a nomination he's not required to make for some time. Obama could also nominate her as the permanent director in the near future, a prospect that has been discussed among top aides, according to a person familiar with the White House deliberations. Warren will also be named as a special adviser directly to Obama, ABC reported.
A senior Democratic congressional aide with knowledge of the decision confirmed the ABC report to HuffPost.