Warren Submits Inquiry To White House Over Mulvaney’s Appointment To Lead CFPB

Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.] has submitted a letter to the White House Counsel raising questions about Mick Mulvaney’s appointment as interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Warren’s letter raised two major issues: whether other staff from the Office of Management & Budget, which Mulvaney runs, will join Mulvaney at the CFPB, and whether the interim director will be subject to the same ethics requirements as other CFPB employees.

Warren pointed to a series of tweets from John Czwartacki, the director of communications for the OMB, who appeared to accompany Mulvaney on his first day at the CFPB on Monday. That led Warren to ask the following questions:

1. What stafffrom OMB or elsewhere in the Executive Office ofthe President (EOP) have accompanied Mr. Mulvaney to the CFPB? Please provide a complete list ofall such staff, their title at OMB or in the EOP, and their title at the CFPB.
2. Under what authority are these individuals working at CFPB? Have these individuals been appointed to CFPB, or detailed to CFPB, or are they at CFPB under different authority? Please provide answers to these questions for all individuals listed in response to question 1.
3. Are any members of Director Mulvaney’ s staff political appointees? Please provide answers to these questions for all individuals listed in response to question 1.
   1. If so, are these appointees working at the CFPB without undergoing the formal hiring process necessary for all CFPB employees except the Director and Deputy Director?
   2. Has Director Mulvaney received a waiver from the Office of Personnel Management to hire any staff members who were political appointees at OMB?
4. What agency is paying the salary ofthese individuals? Is Mr. Mulvaney being paid by OMB or by the CFPB? Are other individuals being paid by OMB or elsewhere in the EOP, or are they being paid by the CFPB? Are any ofthese individuals working as unpaid volunteers at the CFPB while being paid by OMB? Please provide answers to these questions for all individuals listed in response to question 1.
5. Salary structures are different for the CFPB and OMB. How much are individuals who accompanied Mr. Mulvaney to OMB being paid? Please provide answers to these questions for all individuals listed in response to question 1.

With respect to the ethics questions, Warren wants to know whether Mulvaney will be subjected to the same requirements as other CFPB staffers. For example, no CFPB employee is allowed to own securities in any companies regulated by the agency.