Consumer Law

Obama Administration Trying to Find Consumer Protection Role for Elizabeth Warren

By Brian Wolfman

According to this article in the Washington Post, the Obama Administration has a "genuine dilemma" on its hands: It wants Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but it is concerned her nomination would be delayed and possibly fail. Here's an excerpt:

For weeks now, administration officials have weighed various options for how to place Warren at the center of shaping the new watchdog, a role she covets and one that President Obama and others have hinted she will play in one way or another. The latest news to stoke the blogosphere and ignite passions on both sides of the aisle is that the White House is considering giving Warren an "interim" role at the Treasury Department. Such an approach would allow her to oversee the creation of the consumer bureau while circumventing a potentially nasty and prolonged Senate confirmation process. ... [G]oing that route poses its own risks, a fact of which White House officials are keenly aware. For starters, dozens of far less controversial nominees than Warren already have languished in the Senate for months.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on September 14, 2010 (boomark / email).