The Latest on the House hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (all times local):
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10:37 a.m.
What’s in a name?
Along with the many changes in direction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Trump appointee Mick Mulvaney, the bureau’s name itself is being reconsidered.
Mulvaney and other Republicans have been referring to the consumer watchdog as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection instead of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
It may sound like a minor change, but Mulvaney critics say the change deemphasized the “consumer protection” part of the agency’s mission.
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The legal name of the CFPB is Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, under the law that created the agency, but it has not been referred to by that name before.
Mulvaney unveiled a more traditional logo for the agency earlier this year that uses the name Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
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10:30 a.m.
Congressional Republicans are celebrating Mick Mulvaney’s work as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in his first appearance in front of Congress in that role.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said that while he still feels like the CFPB is an unaccountable, unconstitutional agency, Mulvaney’s actions since taking over have been a “welcome change.”
Hensarling, R-Texas, is a longtime critic of the CFPB, and has sponsored several bills that would either abolish or severely restrict the bureau’s ability.
Mulvaney will field questions about the bureau’s semiannual report, submitted to Congress last week, as well as actions he’s taken since being appointed by President Trump in November.
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10:20 a.m.
Mick Mulvaney is appearing before Congress Wednesday, where the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is likely to face tough questions from Democrats worried that the watchdog agency is taking a business-friendly approach at the expense of consumers.
In prepared testimony for the House Financial Services Committee, Mulvaney outlines steps to make the bureau more accountable to Congress and the president. Republicans have long held that the CFPB, created following the financial crisis, is too independent and powerful.
The hearing began shortly after 10 a.m.
Since Mulvaney took over in November, the bureau has not issued an enforcement action against any financial company and has dropped cases against payday lenders.
