Despite many reports detailing the margin of victory as “narrow,” to the surprise of nobody, the Senate Banking Committee yesterday confirmed Kathy Kraninger to be the next director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
Voting along party lines, Kraninger’s nomination was approved 13-12, with all the Republicans on the committee voting in favor and all 12 Democrats opposing the nomination.
READ: Joe’s statement about why he will not support @CFPB Director nominee, Kathleen Kraninger. pic.twitter.com/E9K9moHVqu
— Archive: Senator Joe Donnelly (@SenDonnelly) August 23, 2018
As the next CFPB director, will Kathy Kraninger stand up against powerful special interests and fight for servicemembers, students and seniors that need a champion? The answer is no. pic.twitter.com/uPEvRPVuvE
— Senator Cortez Masto (@SenCortezMasto) August 23, 2018
Kathy Kraninger, @POTUS’s nominee to be Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, was reported successfully out of the #Banking Committee. She is highly qualified, & I am confident she will succeed in making the Bureau more transparent & accountable. @BankingGOP
— Richard Shelby (@SenShelby) August 23, 2018
Her confirmation now moves to the entire Senate for a vote. There are reports that the Senate will not vote on her nomination before the current session of Congress ends at some point later this year. If the Senate does not vote on Kraninger’s nomination, she will have to be re-nominated by President Trump and then go through the confirmation process again. While that happens, Mick Mulvaney, the BCFP’s acting director, will be allowed to remain in place.
In the meantime, both Kraninger and the BCFP will continue to serve as political ping pong balls as Republicans and Democrats paddle both back and forth. Democrats criticize Kraninger for not having enough consumer protection experience while Republicans are looking for someone who will continue to reign in what they have defined to be an agency gone rogue in its enforcement of financial institutions, including collection agencies.
