After the tense moments of her last congressional hearing, Elizabeth Warren surprised critics at her second appearance before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with a carrot of sorts.
Warren, now leading the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said while the new regulator reserves the right to halt marketing of financial services that are not consumer-friendly, there is no need for such a prohibition from the outset.
"We have made all of our priorities clear, and we have no intention of banning a product," Warren told the panel Thursday.
The agency, devised by Warren and mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, formally launches July 21. With some lawmakers opposed to her becoming the bureau's permanent director, Warren has been focused on overseeing its construction and defending its powers before skeptical bankers and GOP lawmakers.
The hearing still produced some fireworks. Republicans questioned Warren's role in settlement negotiations over servicers' foreclosure mishaps, while Democrats urged tougher action on servicers responsible for improperly foreclosing on military personnel.
Yet the tone was decidedly less adversarial than it was at Warren's appearance before an Oversight subcommittee in May. There, following a barrage of questions, Warren clashed with subcommittee Chairman Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., over when she could leave, and McHenry accused Warren of lying.
Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., had asked Warren to come back to speak to the full panel and to clear her schedule. On several occasions Thursday, Issa thanked Warren for her time and at one point offered her a break after more than two hours of questioning.
"This has been the kind of hearing, at least as to your participation, that we strive for, and we appreciate you being here," Issa said.
When he asked Warren to stay beyond the time he had projected she could leave, Warren assured him she was glad to stay.
"I've cleared my schedule and I'm here for as long as you need me," she said, as Issa grinned.
Still, members of the committee expressed their doubts about the new bureau's work. McHenry suggested Warren's assertion that products would not be banned initially was a reversal of her earlier position.
"Has your opinion changed this time, because it seemed like what your rhetoric was previously is that there are products that should be banned," he said.
Warren said there had been no inconsistency. She said the bureau's authority to prohibit dangerous products is necessary for eventual abuses. "The world keeps changing; the world keeps developing. It is a tool in the toolbox, and that's where it should stay," she said.
