CFPB Director Slated to Testify Before House Oversight Panel

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray is scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Sept. 12, where he will likely be treated as a hostile witness again despite his confirmation by the Senate.

Back in April, committee chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, barred Cordray from testifying before his committee, claiming his recess appointment by President Obama was unconstitutional.

The Senate confirmed Cordray in July to be the first CFPB director. Now Hensarling has called on Cordray to present CFPB’s semi-annual report to the Financial Services Committee next Thursday.

However, many committee Republicans continue to view the CFPB as a rogue government agency because it is run by a single director as opposed to a commission or board. In addition, the bureau is funded via the Federal Reserve Board. Congress has no control over the CFPB’s budget.

Following Cordray’s Senate confirmation, Hensarling stressed that the Financial Services Committee needs to “continue its vigorous oversight” of the CFPB.

Corday’s confirmation “does not change the fact that the CFPB lacks the most basic semblance of accountability and transparency that hardworking taxpayers deserve from government agencies,” Hensarling said. “No one unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat in Washington should have so much control over the financial destiny of Americans,” he added.