Last Call

With Elizabeth Warren possibly considering a Senate run in Massachusetts for Scott Brown's seat, the job of heading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is being offered to former Ohio AG Rich Cordray.  However, Republicans are still signaling any nomination for CFPB chief will be blocked.

Obama will formally announce Cordray's nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at an event on Monday.

However, the president's decision to bypass Elizabeth Warren, the bureau's architect whose candidacy has been fiercely opposed by the banking industry, may not signal an easier Senate confirmation fight.

In May, 44 of 47 Senate Republicans sent Obama a letter threatening to block the appointment of any proposed agency chief unless the bureau is reformed to ensure more "accountability and transparency." If the Republicans hold firm, Democrats would lack the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster and win Cordray's confirmation.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said Sunday that "the White House still hasn't addressed the concerns raised by Congress."

What my Senator objects to is the fact an agency designed to help consumers in the financial marketplace even exists.  Nor do I expect Cordray's nomination to do anything but languish in the Senate for months, if not years.  Any Obama nominee will be blocked until the Congress finishes out its term in December of next year, that's just fact.  Something may happen during the lame duck session if Obama is re-elected, but I certainly don't expect anything to happen before then, short of a recess appointment.

The GOP isn't interested in government working, you know.