First, there was Sen. Ben Sasse’s (R-NE) February op-ed column in USA Today: “Nobody in his right mind thinks the lesson of 2016 was ‘give more power to the elites.’ In a country of 320 million Americans, we don’t have room for any kings… It’s time to fire Richard Cordray.” It didn’t take long for Rep. […]
It’s been a rough week for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—perhaps the roughest in the agency’s history. First, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed court papers asking a federal appeals court to order the restructuring of the CFPB. The DOJ argues that the agency’s structure—outside the purview of congressional oversight—comes into a separation-of-powers issue, since CFPB Director Richard […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) needs a new marketing department. In 2016 alone, the CFPB’s “Consumer Education and Engagement” budget surpassed $42 million, yet most Americans don’t even know enough about the agency to form an opinion about it. In a recent national telephone survey, 81 percent of respondents claimed that they had no opinion of the […]
Poor Richard. In January, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed that Director Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), used a private device for government communications with CFPB employees. And he failed to report these messages to the agency—a clear violation of government policy. An even more recent FOIA investigation unearthed private communications between Cordray and Eileen Mancera, a longtime Clinton donor […]
If 2016 is any indication, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) shows no signs of slowing down. According to the CFPB’s FY 2016 financial report, the agency has an operating budget of more than $647 million ($1.2 billion in total resources)—a 15 percent increase from 2015. In 2016, $290,340,472 was spent on personnel compensation and benefits (including to […]
In a recent National Review op-ed column, Ronald Rubin, a former enforcement attorney at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), chronicled the CFPB’s formation and regulatory agenda. He also took us behind the scenes of the agency’s appalling hiring process: As screening techniques improved, Republicans were more easily identified and rejected. Political discrimination was not necessarily illegal, […]
According to the agency’s most recent financial report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has become a Beltway bureaucracy unlike any other. In 2010, it employed 58 people. This year, the agency employed 1,648 people—a 2,741 percent increase in less than a decade. The CFPB now boasts an operating budget of $647.2 million this year—up from $559 million last […]
While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) claims to be a “nonpartisan organization dedicated to fostering an informed discourse on U.S. financial institutions policy,” a closer look at CFPB employees’ political donations paints a slightly different picture. According to a review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) data on 15 U.S. agencies and departments, 100 percent […]
It’s been a rough month for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In early October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit described the CFPB as “unconstitutionally structured” and a “gross departure from settled historical practice.” The appellate court even curbed Director Richard Cordray’s nearly limitless power, making him removable by the president at any […]