The Senate Banking Committee has announced that it will vote tomorrow on the nomination of Rohit Chopra to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Should he be approved by the Senate Banking Committee, Chopra’s nomination would go to the entire Senate for approval in the final step before Chopra can take over leadership of the agency.
Chopra had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee last week. The hearing, held virtually, was fairly uneventful and contained no real theatrics or confrontations between the members of the Committee, especially Republicans who might oppose Chopra’s plans for the CFPB. Whether it was because the hearing was held virtually or because Chopra was unanimously confirmed by the Senate back in 2018 when he was nominated to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, the hearing did little more than to highlight the agendas of the members of the committee and not analyze Chopra’s vision or plans for how he intends to run the CFPB.
For comparison, it took months for Kathleen Kraninger, the most recent permanent director of the CFPB, to get confirmed by the Senate after her confirmation hearing and approval by the Senate Banking Committee. How long it will take the Senate to get to Chopra’s confirmation — should be be approved by the Banking Committee — is still unknown.
The CFPB is currently being run by Acting Director Dave Uejio, who was the CFPB’s Chief Strategy Officer. He replaced Kraninger, who resigned at the request of President Biden, in January.
Chopra’s confirmation vote can be watched via livestream tomorrow at 10am by clicking here.
