The GOP Is Looking to Fire One of the Few Adversaries of Wall Street Whos Slated to Stay in Power
The GOP Is Looking to Fire One of the Few Adversaries of Wall Street Who’s Slated to Stay in Power
Eric Levitz
New York Magazine
Richard Cordray would prefer that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not be adrift at sea. In his first five years as head of the CFPB — the agency that Elizabeth Warren dreamed up to keep the finance industry honest in its dealings with consumers — Cordray has overseen the enactment of stricter lending requirements in mortgage markets, a rule to reduce the exploitation of the economically insecure in the payday-lending industry, and the realization of over $11 billion in relief payments for 27 million consumers.
But Trump would prefer to drain the swamp of competent financial regulators ASAP (the president-elect has already signaled his desire to make it legal for financial advisers to scam the elderly out of their retirement money again). And so Republicans are searching for evidence that Cordray is guilty of malfeasance. Per The Wall Street Journal:
The agency’s critics are now openly calling for Mr. Cordray’s removal and discussing potential faults he may have committed during his tenure at the CFPB’s helm—so the incoming president can fire him for cause. “President Trump, it’s time to say ‘you’re fired’ to Mr. Cordray,” wrote Thaya Brook Knight, associate director of financial regulation studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.
But even if the GOP can’t come up with a reason to fire him, the biggest threat to Cordray’s job security might be the Judicial branch. In October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the agency’s structure was unconstitutional and that the president should have the power to fire the director at will. The CFPB is challenging that ruling.
