Senate Confirms CFPB Director 2 Years After Nomination
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Office of Attorney General of Ohio(WASHINGTON) — The Senate confirmed on Tuesday evening the first of seven presidential nominees over whose nomination Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid originally threatened to eliminate Senate filibuster rules altogether.
Richard Cordray was confirmed as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a Senate vote of 66 to 34. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who was an early advocate of the consumer watchdog agency, was in the chair when the vote was called.
It took nearly two years to confirm Cordray to the post. He was nominated by President Obama exactly two years ago Wednesday.
President Obama installed Cordray to the post at CFPB during a recess appointment in January 2012, drawing scrutiny from Republicans on Capitol Hill. Cordray previously served as attorney general of Ohio.
Cordray’s confirmation came after the Senate reached a deal to avert the so-called “nuclear option,” an elimination of long-standing Senate rules that allow individual members to block Senate votes. Under the agreement, the White House pulled two of its nominees for the National Labor Relations Board and issued new nominations for the Senate to consider while the nominations of Cordray and the six others to various posts were allowed to proceed.
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