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In a letter to Kathleen Kraninger, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee Congresswoman Maxine Waters expressed concerns regarding reports that Thomas G. Ward, is the lead candidate for the Enforcement Director position at the CFPB. Waters has expressed concern about Ward as a “political appointee.”
“The potential selection of Mr. Ward for Enforcement Director raises serious concerns about whether the Consumer Bureau has adhered to civil service laws and OPM guidance governing the hiring of political appointees into career positions,” Waters wrote. “The Committee’s oversight duties include ensuring that personnel actions in the civil service remain free from improper political influence and comply with all relevant civil service laws, rules and regulations. Accordingly, please provide the information and records requested in Schedule A of the enclosed request by no later than January 7, 2020.”
December 11 marked the one-year anniversary for Kathleen L. Kraninger in her post as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. On the day of the anniversary, she released a statement calling it an “honor and privilege” to serve at the bureau and highlighting some of the bureau’s accomplishments under her direction.
“In this last year we’ve greatly enhanced consumer protection by harnessing the resources provided by Congress to be more effective and comprehensively utilized,” she said.
Her statement comes as the bureau awaits a Supreme Court hearing on whether its structure is constitutional or whether too much power is afforded to its singular director.
As Waters suggests that “politicization of the Consumer Bureau has led to a decline in the Consumer Bureau’s obtaining redress for harmed consumers,” Kraninger states that the bureau will “continue to use all of our tools to not only go after bad actors that break the law, but also to prevent harm in the first place by building a culture of compliance throughout the financial system.”
