For the past six months, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has stood at the helm of the bureau, but now that’s about to change.
The acting director had a rough start as just before former CFPB Director Richard Cordray stepped down, he promoted Leandra English from chief of staff to deputy director, positioning her to take over as acting director. But President Donald Trump fought Cordray’s chosen line of succession and installed Mulvaney, who frequently criticized the agency while serving in Congress, as acting director.
That set off a legal battle over who was really in charge of the CFPB, but U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sided with Trump on two separate occasions, handing control of the bureau to Mulvaney.
But now that’s coming to an end. The acting director can only serve six months, unless there is another candidate already nominated and going through the nomination process. The deadline to name a new director is June 22, 2018.
Mulvaney recently explained he was informed by the administration that it plans to nominate a permanent director next week, according to an article by Elizabeth Dexheimer and Saleha Mohsin for Bloomberg.
Sources familiar with the matter say President Donald Trump plans to name National Credit Union Administration Chairman J. Mark McWatters as permanent director, but not until close to June 22, according to an article by Kate Berry for American Banker.
However, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is also in the list of candidates Trump could select to lead the bureau, according to the Bloomberg article.
From the article:
Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican lawmaker from California, is among the candidates who have been discussed as President Donald Trump gets closer to naming someone to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to people familiar with the matter.
“I was not involved in the process," Mulvaney said, adding that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and top White House economic advisers Larry Kudlow and Kevin Hassett have been leading the search. “Once they name a person I look forward to working with him or her to get that person up to speed." Kudlow suffered a heart attack on Monday and is recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, but Mulvaney said that would not affect the timing.
Given the current rate of nomination approvals, this could leave Mulvaney in charge of the bureau at least until the end of the year.
But Mulvaney has made the most of his time at the CFPB.
Since becoming acting director in November, Mulvaney continues to make significant changes to the CFPB. Some of these changes include considering ending public access to bank complaints, changing its fair lending enforcement and even changing the bureau’s name.
