A House Financial Services subcommittee Wednesday approved a bill that creates a five-member commission to steer the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau instead of a single director.
The Financial Institutions subcommittee voted 13-7 to approve the CFPB commission bill, sponsored by Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., who chairs the full committee.
At Wednesday's markup, Rep. Bachus said a five-member commission will "help guarantee that CFPB rules are balanced, reasonable and fair. It will minimize the risk of having a captive regulator."
But Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. warned the bill would create even more incentives for Senate Republicans to hold up the confirmation process because they would have the ability to approve five appointees instead of just one.
Senate Republicans blocked the confirmation of President Obama's first CFBP nominee and have long signaled their intention to block Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren if she is nominated to be the CFPB director. (Warren is currently leading the Treasury Department's team to get the new consumer protection agency up and running by July 21.)
Observers expect the President will appoint Warren or possibly Federal Reserve governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the first CFPB director during Congress' August recess.
The House subcommittee also approved a bill that would delay the CFPB July 21 start date until the Senate confirms a director to run the consumer protection bureau and another bill to give the Financial Stabilization Council greater veto powers over CFPB rules.
“Many in Congress have made clear their intention to defund, delay, and defang the consumer agency before it can help one family," Warren said in a statement.
The subcommittee bills are "about preventing the CFPB from operating effectively -- a dangerous game to play in light of recent lessons in the marketplace and how quickly financial threats to consumers emerge," she added.
