As Inauguration Day approaches, the rhetoric about the CFPB’s future continues to heat up. American Banker reported that, on a conference call with reporters earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer stated that that he would not support legislation to replace the CFPB’s single-director leadership with a five-person commission.
Such a change in the CFPB’s leadership structure is among the changes to the CFPB proposed by the CHOICE Act, the bill released in July 2016 by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling to replace the Dodd-Frank Act and passed by the Committee in September 2016. The bill is expected to be reintroduced early this year. In addition, it has been reported that another bill (S. 105) has been introduced by three Republican Senators that would also change the CFPB’s leadership structure to a five-person commission.
Senator Schumer was joined on the call by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Sherrod Brown. American Banker also reported that the three Senators suggested that Director Cordray would file a lawsuit to challenge an attempt by President-elect to remove him. Former Republican Congressman Randy Neugebauer has been identified as a possible replacement for Director Cordray.
