Richard Cordray with President Obama
Boy, do Republicans hate regular people. They don't want them to have health insurance. If they're poor, they don't want them to have food. And they don't want them to have any protection against a predatory financial industry. They lost on big battle on that front, when Senate Republicans finally had to stop trying to nullify the the law that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and allow it to have a director, Richard Cordray. But that's not going to stop them from
raising hell with Cordray, and trying to keep him from doing his job.
House Republicans went on the attack Thursday against President Obama’s consumer watchdog after allowing his testimony for the first time in nearly six months. [...]
“The CFPB is arguably the single most powerful and least accountable federal agency in the history of America,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the committee’s chairman.
“In many respects the CFPB is uniquely unaccountable even to itself, since it is fundamentally not an it, not a they, only a he,” he added, describing a “unilateral, unbridled and unparalleled” amount of power that has been granted to Cordray as the director of the agency.
Hensarling has apparently never heard of the National Security Agency. Of course, a few months ago, it was the IRS that held that all-powerful position for Republicans, so you can take that criticism for what it's worth—nothing. But if you want to go for really stupid, you can always find it.
“What I think America deserves is the transparency that you’re promised,” said Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.). “You come in and you stonewall. You try to explain but never do we get answers. Never does America get answers.”
That's after the committee spent the last six months refusing to allow Cordray to testify before it to make the point that they considered his recess appointment unconstitutional. So it was Cordray stonewalling? Your House Republicans at work.
By the way, the CFPB's latest nefarious action was to remind employers that they can't force workers to be paid by fee-laden payroll cards.