During the Obama Presidency, bureaucrats in Washington cranked out regulation after regulation with little concern for their impact on hardworking taxpayers. One of the greatest offenders of this bureaucracy first, citizen second mentality has been the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or CFPB.
Recently, the leadership CFPB has attempted to circumvent President Trump by trying to promote a successor from within and deny the President his ability his ability to appoint the next head of the agency. The Detroit News published an insightful editorial detailing why this is particularly dangerous given the immense power the CFPB Director.
From the News:
Agencies should not have the ability to perpetuate their own agendas and work against elected leaders.
Opponents of the CFPB argued successfully in the initial case that it differs from similar agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Communications Commission, in that it is controlled by a single director who is subject to almost no oversight. The FCC, SEC and others have multi-person boards or commissioners empowered to check the director.
The appeals court dealt specifically with the leadership structure of the bureau, writing: “Because the Director alone heads the agency without Presidential supervision, and in light of the CFPB’s broad authority over the U.S. economy, the Director enjoys significantly more unilateral power than any single member of any other independent agency.”
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Dodd-Frank also opened the federal treasury to the CFPB, allowing it to set its own budget.
A pending Republican replacement of Dodd-Frank would make the CFPB director, who now enjoys a five-year term and can only be removed for cause, fireable at will, just like all other presidential appointees.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was one of the worst ideas to emerge from Dodd-Frank, a package that was chock-full of bad policies. It should be made to conform with the normal structure of federal agencies, and given some direct oversight. That starts with the president deciding who fills the leadership vacancy.
Bill has consistently argued that no bureaucrat should be unaccountable to the American people and that no agency in the federal government should be structured in a way that runs counter to the Constitution. The federal government should work for West Michigan, not against it.