The architects of the law that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said they law intended for the deputy director of the agency to take over in the event the director left and that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act should not be used to name a replacement.
Former Sen. Christopher Dodd and former Rep. Barney Frank, who together created the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, said a federal judge got it wrong last week when he denied a temporary restraining order preventing President Trump’s chosen interim replacement, Mick Mulvaney, from running the agency. Leandra English, promoted to deputy director in the hours before former director Richard Cordray resigned on November 24, is suing the president and Mulvaney in an attempt to helm the agency until a permanent director is named.
“We had the choice of keeping the Vacancies Act, but rejected that choice and wrote the language that was in the bill,” Dodd said in a conference call with reporters. “We did not just call the CFPB an independent agency, we created an independent agency.”
Judge Timothy Kelly is expecting to rule on the rest of English’s lawsuit in the near future. Whether he listens to the what the former lawmakers intended when they created the law remains to be seen.
The law was written to keep the CFPB from being politicized, which is exactly what has happened, Dodd said.
Frank had harsh words for Mulvaney.
“He was put there to shut the agency down and keep it from being effective,” Frank said. “They couldn’t get a nominee confirmed who would be as negative at the agency as Mulvaney is. As long as he is the director, the agency will do almost nothing.”
