In response to a HuffPo report that Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner was opposed to the nomination of Elizabeth Warren to the newly created CFPB, David Dayen asked Michael Barr, the assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Institutions for clarification.
Barr totally denied this to me. "I don’t know where that (report) came from," he said. I asked him if he thought Warren was well-qualified for the position and if anyone at Treasury would stand in her way if she were the top choice. "I think Elizabeth is absolutely terrific," Barr said. "She’s been working closely with me and Secretary Geithner for a year and half to push for this consumer protection bureau. I believe and Secretary Geithner believes that she’s exceptionally well-qualified to run it."
That’s on the record now. Tim Geithner and his lead deputy at the Treasury Department think Elizabeth Warren is well-qualified to head the CFPB. It’s important that this information gets distributed far and wide.
The official line from Treasury is that Warren is "exceptionally well-qualified" to run the new consumer protection bureau, which is excellent news. The statement falls short of an endorsement of her nomination, and there are other candidates, some of whom are also well qualified, but Elizabeth Warren is uniquely so. That's where the grassroots can and should come in. Dean Baker explains why continued activist and grassroots support for Warren's nomination makes sense.
The one clear substantive gain [in the financial reform legislation] was the creation of a strong and independent consumer financial protection bureau. Elizabeth Warren is the obvious person to head this new agency; there is no close second.
To start, the idea for this sort of consumer protection board originated with Warren and her writings. She made the obvious point that we don't allow businesses to sell exploding toasters, why should we allow them to sell exploding mortgages? (For opponents of government bureaucracy, this could be dealt with by making bad contracts unenforceable, but our courts do not see things this way.)
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Warren has also displayed the sort of independence that will be needed to get the new agency on a solid footing. She used her position as head of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the TARP to thoroughly scrutinize the deals made as part of this program and to point out all the ways in which taxpayers were not getting a fair deal for their money.
Undoubtedly her actions made many people in positions of power uncomfortable. But, that is exactly what we need in order for the new consumer protection agency to be effective.
The nomination will have to be approved by the Senate. A grassroots and activist campaign with the Senate on behalf of Warren just makes sense, regardless of whether there's palace intrigue behind the scenes. She's the right woman for the job.
Update: Geithner provides this endorsement, via David Dayen:
"Elizabeth Warren has been a driving force behind the creation of the consumer financial protection bureau, and we have worked very closely with her over the past year and a half to make that idea a reality.
"Given her strong leadership on consumer protection, Secretary Geithner believes that Elizabeth Warren is exceptionally well qualified to lead the new bureau, and, ultimately, that’s a decision the President will have to make."