The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was created just a few years ago and it’s already experienced more than its fair share of stumbles. The latest kerfuffle: revelations that a self-professed socialist now sits on one of the agency’s advisory boards.
Ron Ehrenreich has been appointed to the CFPB’s Credit Union Advisory Council. Flash back to 26 years ago, and he was running to be Vice President of the United States on the Socialist Party’s ticket. How times change … or have they? In any case, it’s unclear what kind of impact Ehrenreich will have in this role, but his appointment certainly underscores the need for additional oversight and accountability at CFPB. This lack of Congressional supervision is something that NTU has been concerned about for years and was a major source of contention when President Obama appointed Richard Cordray to head the agency. At that time, Republicans in the Senate blocked the appointment for months as they raised serious concerns about the inability of Congress to conduct sufficient oversight, as well as concerns about the sweeping new powers the CFPB would wield. Obama eventually used a constitutionally questionable “recess appointment” to put Cordray in office and he was later confirmed after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid changed the rules to prevent his colleagues from using the filibuster.
The next CFPB public relations disaster occurred soon after Cordray’s Senate confirmation, when we discovered that many of its employees were extremely well-paid:
Hundreds of CFPB officials are paid more than Supreme Court Justices, senior White House officials, members of Congress, and all 50 state governors, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of salary data for the board's 1,204 workers.
As my colleague, Pete Sepp, noted in the same Washington Examiner story, “how can it be justified on grounds to hire expertly qualified people when many of the salaries far exceed the experts at places like the Federal Reserve and the Securities & Exchange Commission?”
This week, the CFPB was hit with two significant issues. First, as previously mentioned, we learned of an avowed socialist serving on a CFPB advisory board. And just yesterday, the CFPB was accused of discrimination against women and minorities.
Taxpayers must be left wondering what is next for this troubled agency that is supposed to be protecting consumers from harm.