Call Her Unaccountable
Mary Kissel
The Wall Street Journal
5/25/2011
The first discussion (approximately 2.5 minutes) in this video is with Mary Kissel of the editorial board with an update on Elizabeth Warren’s amazing appearance before Congress.
At C-SPAN, Elizabeth Warren Defends Consumer Watchdog Agency, Battles with GOP members over CFPB
Elizabeth Warren, the overseer of the new U.S. consumer-watchdog agency, was back on Capitol Hill for another round of questioning by House Republicans regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Warren faced the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs to answer the question, “who is her department accountable to in the federal government?”
The hearing was also designed to review “the oversight mechanisms” of the new agency, which is set to launch on July 21.
The hearing was Warren’s second formal appearance before a House hearing relating to the CFPB. Her first meeting in March before the House Financial Services Committee resulted in a session regarding the CFPB’s role in the ongoing investigation of the nation’s major servicers.
She said during the March hearing that if CFPB had been operational years ago, “We wouldn’t be in the mess we’re currently in.”
There are links to several related videos at C-SPAN.
CNNMoney: Elizabeth Warren faces hostile Republicans (with video)
…In a hearing entitled “Who’s Watching the Watchmen,” Republicans on a House subcommittee used the opportunity to delve into Warren, her plans and her past testimony to Congress.
Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, declared the bureau a “super class of administrative elites”…
…The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created as a part of last year’s Dodd-Frank Act, which Congress passed to rewrite the financial rules of the road to prevent the next financial crisis.
The bureau’s primary duty is to oversee financial products — such as mortgages and credit cards — and ensure they’re clear, understandable and don’t obscure hidden fees that consumers can’t figure out.
But ever since Republicans took over the House, they’ve been focused on curbing and reversing powers of the consumer bureau, saying the new federal agency has too much power and lacks oversight…
