Washington - Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee of the Senate Banking Committee, today released the following statement on the nomination of Richard Cordray to be the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
"I congratulate Richard Cordray on his nomination to be the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and I urge my Senate colleagues to give his nomination fair consideration. I also thank Elizabeth Warren for her vision and work in setting up the CFPB the past year," said Menendez. "With this week's one-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the CFPB needs a Director to be an effective 'cop on the beat' to protect consumers from a Wall Street repeat that caused the financial crisis and loss of jobs."
A vocal minority of Republican Senators have stated that they will oppose any nominee to lead the new agency unless Congress makes major changes to the CFPB's structure and a significant weakening of its powers to protect consumers from big Wall Street banks.
Menendez continued, "Senate Republicans should not stand in the way of a new nominee just because they don't like the outcome of last year's vote. These unreasonable threats to block this nomination come from Republicans who have consistently stood with the Wall Street banks and their lobbyists in opposing financial protections for the American people."
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