Bachus: Even odds Warren becomes first Consumer Bureau director

{mosads}Bachus warned that having no director nominated “calls into question the legitimacy of the agency and puts it in jeopardy.”

He also used the interview to stump for a bill he has introduced that would replace the top of the CFPB with a bipartisan commission as opposed to a single director. He said he is “absolutely” looking to restructure the agency, warning that it concentrates too much power in a lone director — whether it be Warren or anyone else.

“It isn’t so much about Elizabeth Warren as it’s about the structure of this agency,” he said. “I think it would function much better as a commission.”

Bachus’s comments come one day after nearly every Senate Republican told the president they would block any nominee for CFPB director until several changes are made to rein in the agency’s power. They too called for putting multiple people in charge on a board as opposed to a single director, as well as placing its budget under the control of congressional appropriators and making it easier for other regulators to overturn CFPB rules they deem to be harmful to banks.