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. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) to echo these concerns, calling Cordray’s agency “destructive and dangerous.”
Pressure’s only mounting on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an unaccountable federal agency led by an even less transparent director. In recent weeks, several members of Congress have penned op-ed pieces criticizing the CFPB for its general lack of accountability. In The Charlotte Observer, Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC) argued that the “CFPB’s breathtaking lack of accountability and proclivity for excessive regulations have harmed consumers and made it difficult for businesses to create jobs.” In his words: “Due to the lack of oversight, [the] CFPB has been free to create excessive regulations, which restrict job growth, restrict access to credit options, and increase the cost of credit.”
In The Detroit News, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) criticized the “one-size fits all regulatory structure,” while CNBC.com ran a Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) piece claiming that “unelected bureaucrats and overregulation [have] handcuffed community banks, regional banks, credit unions, and other lenders.”
That’s called losing in the court of public opinion.