Democrats respond to GOP’s Consumer Bureau threat

{mosads}”The consumer agency’s sole mission is to protect American families and provide the tools they need to make smart financial decisions,” said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage. “For far too long, American consumers have fallen victim to fraud, misleading claims, and powerful special interests and the President believes that American families who were the hardest hit by this financial crisis deserve an independent watchdog to protect consumers and prevent predatory lending and other abuses in the future.”

And Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johson (D-S.D.) said Republicans were “at it again” with their threat, revisiting a battle they lost during the Dodd-Frank debate over the existence of the CFPB.

“The truth is this bureau is already subject to greater checks and balances than any other financial regulator and this is just another attempt by Republicans to delay and derail these critical new protections,” he said. “Republicans in Washington may want to use revisionist history, but Americans haven’t forgotten that the recession was caused in part by predatory lenders and bad actors on Wall Street.”

In their letter, Republicans said they would stand in the way of any nominee until specific changes were made to the CFPB. They demanded the top of the agency be remade so it is run by a board of directors instead of a single director and that the agency’s budget be brought under the congressional appropriations process. They also said other regulators should have an easier time overruling the CFPB if its regulations endanger the health of banks.