Rohit Chopra confirmed by Senate to head the CFPB

By a partisan Senate vote of a 50-48, Rohit Chopra has been confirmed by the to serve as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Returning the consumer watchdog agency to a state of partisan divisions over the scope of its power.

Chopra had been serving as a member of the Federal Trade Commission.

He had been announced as the Biden administration’s choice to lead the CFPB nine months ago, before Biden even took office. Chopra succeeds Trump appointee Kathy Kraninger, who had previously served as a senior official at the Office of Management and Budget. She led the CFPB for two years before resigning in January.

His confirmation ends what had been a contentious partisan process after every Republican on the Senate Banking Committee voted against his candidacy, resulting in a 12-12 tie on the panel. Senate rules allow the Senate majority leader to offer a motion to advance nominees when committees are deadlocked. Since Democrats and Republicans have equal representation on committees, the vote was evenly split and the vote advanced to the Senate floor.

The mere existence of the CFPB continues to remain a very partisan issue. The bureau was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and mandated to set new standards for consumer protection and to enforce federal consumer financial law in the financial industry.

Since it’s inception, Republicans have objected to the agency being led by a single director, as opposed to a commission with equal representation from members of both parties. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that a provision in the law establishing the agency, which said the director could only be removed for cause and not at the discretion of the president, was unconstitutional.

Chopra’s confirmation was not without vocal opposition, however. Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, stated in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday. “I have grave concerns that Commissioner Chopra would return the CFPB to the lawless, overreaching, highly politicized agency it was during the Obama administration,” said. Adding “The CFPB was created by Democrats through the Dodd-Frank Act as arguably the most unaccountable agency in the history of the federal government.”