President Donald Trump named an interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shortly after the outgoing director appointed his own successor, signaling a potential showdown over who’s in charge of the federal agency.
Trump named Mick Mulvaney, the current director of the Office of Management and Budget, as interim director of the consumer watchdog agency.
“Director Mulvaney will serve as acting director until a permanent director is nominated and confirmed,” the White House said in a statement Friday.
Just hours earlier Friday, outgoing CFPB Director Richard Cordray sent a letter to Trump, declaring he’s officially done leading the federal consumer watchdog agency once the clock strikes midnight.
Cordray named his chief of staff, Leandra English, as deputy director, which essentially establishes her as the bureau’s acting director.
The departure of Cordray, the first-ever director of the consumer agency, had sparked speculation that Trump would tap a member of his administration to lead the bureau.
The two appointments sparked confusion on who will be in charge when employees return to work Monday
In a tweet Friday night, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the architects of the consumer agency, said that under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the agency’s deputy director assumes the role of acting director if there’s a vacancy.
Trump “can’t override that,” she tweeted.
The President “can nominate the next director — but until that nominee is confirmed by the Senate, Leandra English is the Acting Director under the Dodd-Frank Act,” Warren tweeted.
Mulvaney said he will continue to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
In yet even more fine print, the administration can appoint a current government official into a new job as long as they are confirmed by the Senate under the Federal Vacancies Act to serve in an acting capacity. The official is not required to leave their current position to fill the new role until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the Senate.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a government agency created after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers and keep an eye on Wall Street.
Mulvaney, like many Republicans, has been a staunch critic of the consumer watchdog agency he’s now been appointed to lead. While serving in Congress, he voted in favor of killing the agency.
He and other opponents argue the agency has too much power and installs unduly harsh regulations, and has worked alongside Trump to roll back some of the rules they have pinned as anti-business.
Earlier this month, Trump signed legislation repealing a rule issued by the CFPB that made it easier for consumers to team up to sue banks and credit card companies.
Some Republicans had called for Cordray’s firing, saying his regulatory authority has lacked oversight during his tenure at the consumer agency. But the law forbids Trump from firing the consumer agency’s director without cause.
Proponents of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau say it plays a key role in preventing big business from preying on the little guy.
In his exit letter, Cordray said the consumer agency’s work is “vital” to the U.S. economy.
“We have returned almost $12 billion to more than 30 million consumers who had been cheated or mistreated by banks or other large financial companies,” he wrote.
Cordray was appointed by President Barack Obama and first assumed his post in 2012. His decision to leave may have less to do with political tension and more to do with a desire to run for governor of Ohio in 2018.
His departure marks an opening for Trump to embark on a major overhaul of the agency.