April 24, 2018

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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