After initially postponing its vote on the future director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs announced it has rescheduled the vote.
The committee was initially set to vote for the nomination of Kathy Kraninger as the next director of the CFPB, along with nominations for other positions, on Aug. 2. However, the night before, the Banking Committee announced the postponement of its vote.
This is because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced his plan to end senate business for a short recess, saying the Senate would return on Aug. 13.
Now, the Senate is back in session and the committee announced it will hold Kraninger’s nomination vote, along with the vote for several other nominees, on Aug. 23. If confirmed, the vote will head to the full Senate, where Kraninger will see if she is elected as the CFPB director for a five-year term.
However, there are some who say Kraninger has no chance of passing the Senate nomination process, and that her nomination is simply a ploy to keep CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney at the helm. If her nomination is denied in the Senate, President Donald Trump will have another 210 days to nominate a new replacement.
Senate Democrats are highly critical of the nominee, and Committee Chairman Mike Crapo’s, R-Idaho, decision to move forward with the vote, despite the fact that Kraninger has yet to submit responses to questions for the record from Senate Democrats concerning her views on financial regulation and immigration.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in particular, has repeatedly requested information concerning the nominee’s role in constructing the controversial border policy that separated undocumented immigrant children from their parents.
Other nomination votes that are now rescheduled to the Aug. 23 include Kimberly Reed to be president of the Export-Import Bank, Elad Roisman to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Michael Bright to be president of Ginnie Mae, Rae Oliver to be inspector general of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Dino Falaschetti to be director of the office of financial research for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
