Warren Follows Up with More than 100 Questions to Mick Mulvaney After Senate Banking Hearing
Presses for More Information on Payday Rule, Data Freeze, Supervision & Enforcement Actions
Full list of questions available here (PDF)
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today released a series of "Questions for the Record" for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney following up on their exchange during the hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. At that hearing, Senator Warren noted that Mr. Mulvaney is undermining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and hurting real people to score cheap political points.
Following the hearing, Senator Warren sent Mr. Mulvaney over 100 questions
seeking information about his actions on the payday rule, his data freeze, and
the hiring of numerous political appointees. Senator Warren also pressed Mr.
Mulvaney on why the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity (OFLEO) was
stripped of its enforcement powers and whether the CFPB will continue to
supervise student loan servicers and debt collectors.
Find a summary of each section of Senator Warren's questions for the record
(QFRs) below:
Legal theories
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney what he meant when he said the CFPB is no
longer doing "regulation by enforcement." Will the CFPB continue to
open investigations, negotiate settlements or file lawsuits under its Unfair,
Deceptive, Abusive Acts and Practices enforcement authority?
Supervision and Enforcement
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney whether his review of enforcement cases is
still ongoing, when it's projected to end, details of cases settled by the
CFPB, and how many cases have been dropped.
Fair Lending
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney if a legal or other analysis was used to
determine whether stripping the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity of
its enforcement authority would hinder the CFPB's work. Senator Warren also
pressed Mr. Mulvaney on how bringing the OFLEO under his authority will affect
the CFPB's enforcement of fair lending laws.
Student Loans
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney if the CFPB will continue to supervise
federal student loan servicers and debt collectors and how he will do this
independent of his job as OMB director.
Budget
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney about how much the CFPB intends to request in
transfers from the Fed for the remaining two quarters of the fiscal year and
about more details about the CFPB's budget.
Cybersecurity
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney if his data collection freeze is still ongoing,
the decision-making process behind instituting the freeze, and the impact of
the freeze of CFPB's statutorily-mandated work.
Personnel
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney detailed questions about his hiring of
several political appointees with high salaries.
Accountability
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney about the congressional tools for holding the
CFPB accountable and how they compare to those that apply to the other banking
regulatory agencies.
Payday Rule
Senator Warren asked Mr. Mulvaney about what caused him to reverse his prior
position that only Congress has the ability to delay or reverse the CFPB payday
rule, who was involved in the decision, and what analysis the CFPB used as
justification to halt the rule. Senator Warren also asked Mr. Mulvaney to
provide any communications he or other officials have had with representatives
of the payday loan industry.
Read the full list of questions here.
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