Harvard Law Prof to Be Named Head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Sources Say
President Obama this week will unofficially name Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren to head a new consumer financial protection bureau at the center of the adminstration’s overhaul of Wall Street.
Warren will take on a dual role as assistant to the president and special adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, which will allow her to effectively run the new agency without having to go through a potentially bruising confirmation battle in the Senate, according to several reports citing unnamed administration officials.
The appointment does not preclude the possibility that Warren could eventually be named permanent director of the new agency, a move that would require Senate confirmation, administration officials said.
Warren, 61, an authority on bankruptcy law who helped conceive of the agency she will lead, is a controversial figure in political and financial circles. Liberals, labor unions and consumer advocates love her for her advocacy on behalf of working-class and middle-class families. But she has drawn suspicion from bankers and conservative lawmakers who think she intends to punish the banking industry.
Still, the decision to bypass the Senate could infuriate lawmakers of all ideological stripes. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told the Washington Post she opposes the move, which she said was “clearly a disingenuous effort to circumvent the Senate confirmation process.” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who shepherded the financial reform legislation through the Senate, said such a move could jeopardize the new agency’s credibility.
The new bureau is expected to have hundreds of staffers and a budget of up to $500 million, the Huffington Post reported.
A report earlier this month that Warren would not be teaching her first-year contracts class this fall helped fuel speculation that Warren would be appointed to the position.
