Warren to Kraninger on First Days at CFPB: Take Five Steps Immediately to Enable the Agency to Stand up For Consumers
Warren strongly opposed Kraninger's nomination, citing her lack of experience and role in overseeing family separations at the border
In the first days of Kraninger's term, Warren sends 8-page letter demanding immediate action to restore the Consumer Bureau's mission
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent an eight-page letter to Kathy Kraninger, newly confirmed Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to mark the first days of her five-year term.
Kraninger's predecessor, Mick Mulvaney, undermined the CFPB's statutory mission to protect consumers by filling the agency with political appointees, halting enforcement activity, decimating the agency's access to resources and data, and dismantling critical protections for students, servicemembers, and communities of color. His actions prioritized the interests of financial firms and his political cronies ahead of those of America's families.
In the letter, Warren specified how Kraninger can make good on her promise to serve the American people.
"For its first six years, the CFPB operated as Congress intended-as a robust, nonpartisan regulator, taking advantage of all available authorities to protect consumers from fraud and abuse. This independent, mission-driven approach got results: the Bureau has returned $12.4 billion to more than 31 million consumers as a result of its enforcement actions," wrote Senator Warren. "As the newly confirmed Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), you have a critical and urgent task ahead of you: reorienting the CFPB so that it once again fulfills its statutory mission of protecting consumers."
Warren wrote that Kraninger must take the following five steps by the end of her first month in office in order to undo the damage done by former Interim Director Mick Mulvaney in his year at the helm:
- End the politicization of the CFPB by eliminating the dozen-plus political positions Mr. Mulvaney created at the agency;
- Recommit the agency to pursuing aggressive investigations of wrongdoing and enforcement actions against corporations that violate the law;
- Preserve the Bureau's ability to collect and use data to stop consumer ripoffs;
- Restore the full authority of the CFPB's Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity;
- Take quick action to reinstate protections for students, young consumers, and servicemembers.
On November 28th, Senator Warren led the opposition in the Senate to Kathy Kraninger's nomination by sending an 11-page letter to all 99 of her colleagues explaining why Kraninger is unqualified to direct the CFPB.
Earlier this year, Warren released a 14-page staff report detailing Kraninger's dismal record at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and called on Kraninger to turn over documents related to her involvement in the Trump Administration's family separation policy.
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