Chief revises consumer bureau aims

WASHINGTON — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Mick Mulvaney told lawmakers Wednesday that the agency’s new priority is “to recognize free markets and consumer choice” and take “a humble approach to enforcing the law,” according to prepared remarks released in advance.

In his first testimony to Congress since his controversial appointment as the bureau’s acting director, Mulvaney acknowledged that many lawmakers have disagreed with his actions in the job, “just as many members disagreed with the actions of my predecessor.” Mulvaney said the bureau continues to do its job, with numerous investigations of financial companies in the works.

Mulvaney blamed lawmakers’ frustrations on the structure of the bureau, an independent watchdog created in the wake of the financial crisis. He was an outspoken critic of the bureau as a Republican congressman, and last week he formally asked Congress to reduce the bureau’s authority.

Mulvaney and other Republicans have said the bureau is unaccountable because its funding, like that of other financial regulators, is outside the appropriations process, and the president can fire the bureau’s director only for cause, rather than at will.

Mulvaney has proposed changing those provisions, which he said Wednesday would resolve congressional frustration.

“Such continued frustration with the bureau’s lack of accountability to any representative branch of government should be a warning sign that a lapse in democratic structure and republican principles has occurred,” Mulvaney said in remarks he planned to give to the House Financial Services Committee.

“This cycle will continue ad infinitum unless Congress acts

to make the bureau accountable to the American people,” he said.

Democrats and consumer advocates said the bureau’s structure was designed to keep it free of political influence so consumer protection efforts wouldn’t be weakened by financial industry lobbying or starved of funding by congressional opponents.

Since Mulvaney took over, the bureau has not issued an enforcement action against any financial company and has

dropped cases against payday lenders. He also has announced that he would revise or revisit many of the rules or regulations that his predecessor, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, put into place under his tenure.

Democrats, including Maxine Waters, criticized that record Wednesday. They worry that the bureau under Mulvaney is taking a businessfriendly approach at the expense of consumers. Mulvaney said the bureau continues to do its job, with numerous investigations of financial companies in the works.

“We are still enforcing the law,” Mulvaney said. “I have

not burnt the place down,” repeating a phrase he has often used to combat his critics.

Republicans praised Mulvaney’s performance at the bureau so far. Mulvaney is the first Republican to lead the bureau since it was created under the Obama administration.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said that while he still feels the bureau is an unaccountable, unconstitutional agency, Mulvaney’s actions since taking over have been a “welcome change.” Hensarling, R-Texas, is a longtime critic of the bureau and has sponsored several bills

that would either abolish or severely restrict the bureau’s capabilities.

In November, President Donald Trump appointed Mulvaney, the White House budget chief, to also serve as the bureau’s acting director.

Since then, Mulvaney has scaled back the bureau’s enforcement activities and changed its mission statement to make the top priority “identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary or unduly burdensome regulations.”

His appointment is being challenged in court by Leandra English, the bureau deputy director who contends she is the

rightful acting director. Cordray, who resigned as director in November, appointed her as his temporary replacement. But Trump quickly installed Mulvaney in the job.

A federal judge denied English’s request for a temporary restraining order and later a preliminary injunction to remove Mulvaney as acting director and install her instead. She is appealing the injunction denial to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which will hear oral arguments in the case today.