Battle For The Consumer Protection Agency

Fact; Not Fake Trump News! After the financial collapse in 2008, President Obama and the Democrats passed legislation creating the CFPB, as one of the remedies protecting America from the evil doers ever again destroying the economy. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has returned more than $12 billion back to consumers who were cheated or deceived by banks, lenders and other tricksters. Some of the biggest recipients of these consumer protections are our Veterans and their families, who often struggle during deployments and are frequent victims of financial shenanigans; and of course the poorest of the poor, many who inexplicably voted for Trump. Does the recent Wells Fargo scandal ring a bell? The GOP’s rich and powerful political donors have given the Republi-cons their marching orders; destroy the CFPB! Tell your representatives to stand up for America’s consumers and the CFPB.    John Hanno

UPI: Acting consumer bureau chief sues Trump admin in power struggle

By Ed Adamczyk     November 27, 2017

Federal Consumer Protection Bureau acting director Leandra English filed a lawsuit Sunday to keep her position, after President Donald Trump named budget director Mick Mulvaney, pictured, to the post. File Photo by Olivier Douliery/UPI/Pool

Nov. 27 (UPI) — The acting head of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a federal lawsuit that says President Donald Trump overstepped his authority by trying to replace her with budget director Mike Mulvaney.

The resignation Friday of CFPB chief Richard Cordray came after he appointed Leandra English, his former chief of staff, as acting director.

Trump, however, announced that Mulvaney, his Office of Management and Budget director, will take over the leadership post instead.

English argues in her lawsuit, filed late Sunday, that the court should deny the Trump administration’s claim that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act permits him to appoint a new director.

“The president’s purported or intended appointment of defendant Mulvaney as acting director of the CFPB is unlawful,” the legal challenge states. “The president’s use of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act to appoint an acting director of the CFPB would be an obvious contravention of Congress’s statutory scheme.”

The CFPB was established in 2011 to protect consumers in dealings with banks regarding debt collection, credit card and loan companies. Republicans have said the agency has too much power and unnecessarily burdens banks and credit card companies. Mulvaney, while a member of Congress, co-sponsored a bill to eliminate the agency.

A permanent director of the agency must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., told CNN Sunday that Trump is on “good ground” to appoint Mulvaney and called the CFPB “the most out of control, unaccountable federal agency in Washington.”

Mary McLeod, CFPB general counsel, said in a memo this weekend that Trump has the power to appoint Mulvaney.

“Statutory language, legislative history, precedent from the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, and case law all point to the conclusion that the President may use the Vacancies Reform Act to designate an acting official, even when there is a succession statute under which another official may serve as acting,” she wrote.

“It’s a watchdog agency. Wall Street hates it like the devil hates holy water, and they’re trying to put an end to it with Mr. Mulvaney stepping into Cordray’s spot,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., countered.

The Hill:  Succession battle at consumer agency intensifies

Reuters       November 27, 2017

The two officials both claiming to be the rightful acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are battling for control of the agency on Monday morning.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mike Mulvaney, who President Trump says is now in charge of the consumer bureau, showed up for work with donuts and ordered CFPB employees to ignore all directives from Deputy Director Leandra English and report them to the agency’s legal department, according to Reuters.

Mulvaney was seen entering the CFPB’s headquarters in downtown Washington carrying a Dunkin Donuts bag.

English, whom former CFPB Director Richard Cordray named as his successor, sent the director’s weekly email to CFPB employees this morning, addressing herself as the “acting director.”

She also briefed lawmakers at the Capitol Monday on her transitions plan, a source familiar with the plans told The Hill.

The White House told CNBC that Mulvaney was given access to the director’s office with full support from the bureau’s staff, despite the lawsuit filed against him and Trump by English.

English sued Trump and Mulvaney in federal court on Sunday night to block Mulvaney from taking acting directorship of the CFPB. She cited the CFPB’s line of succession as enacted in the Dodd-Frank Act, which calls on the deputy director to serve as acting chief when between permanent directors.

English claimed that Trump violated Congress’s will by claiming he had the power under the Federal Vacancies Act to supersede Dodd-Frank. However, the CFPB’s chief counsel issued memo to employees supporting the White House’s nomination of Mulvaney.

The Justice Department released memo on Saturday arguing that it is within Trump’s authority to appoint Mulvaney as the interim director of the CFPB.

Prominent Democrats, who have fiercely defended the CFPB under Cordray, called Trump’s appointment of Mulvaney an illegal attempt to destroy the agency from within.

While serving as a congressman before joining Trump’s administration, Mulvaney sponsored bills to eliminate the CFPB and backed other legislation to put it under closer legislative oversight.

Mulvaney has in the past called the bureau “a sick, sad joke” that shouldn’t exist.

Author: John Hanno

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Bogan High School. Worked in Alaska after the earthquake. Joined U.S. Army at 17. Sergeant, B Battery, 3rd Battalion, 84th Artillery, 7th Army. Member of 12 different unions, including 4 different locals of the I.B.E.W. Worked for fortune 50, 100 and 200 companies as an industrial electrician, electrical/electronic technician.

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