Sen. Richard Shelby, fighting on behalf of banksters everywhere.
Last spring, Sen. Richard Shelby
promised, along with 43 GOP Senate colleagues, to block
any nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless the agency was essentially gutted.
Now that there is a nominee, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, Shelby isn't backing down. What's worse, he made the filibuster threat in his opening statement at Cordray's confirmation hearing. Why even bother having nomination hearings?
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) reiterated his plan to block former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray from leading the agency, unless it is restructured as a commission and placed under greater congressional control.
"One of our nation's founding principles is that the government should be accountable to the people," Shelby said in his opening statement. "All of the bureau's power is concentrated in the hands of its director. The director determines which rules are enacted and which enforcement actions are brought. The director makes all hiring decisions and decides how the agency spends its resources."
Noble sentiment, except for the fact that the CFPB is charged with doing nothing other than protecting the interests of "the people." And that's the problem for those whose water Shelby (and the rest of the GOP) is carrying.
The financial sector has a colossal stake in the hearings, since Cordray could dramatically reshape how mortgages, loans and credit cards are offered to the public.
"This is akin to a Supreme Court nominee for us," said Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association. "I believe this director has more power at any agency since J. Edgar Hoover."
Yep, because making sure that the paperwork you sign for a mortgage is understandable and that you can actually read your credit card agreement is exactly the same as Hoover targeting Martin Luther King, Jr. in politically motivated investigations.