Elizabeth Warren to head Consumer Protection Bureau?

The Dodd-Frank bill isn’t law yet, but that isn’t stopping us from hosting an event on the bill next week; it’s also not stopping The Boston Globe’s politics blog from reporting that Elizabeth Warren is a likely candidate to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau once the bill is signed into law. They quote state AG Martha Coakley promoting Professor Warren’s candidacy, “I think, frankly, that Elizabeth Warren would be a terrific head of that agency.” And it makes a ton of sense for these sort of trial balloons to start floating. Professor Warren came up with the idea of the CFPB, she’s been a tireless advocate on behalf of the idea and of protection for ordinary consumers of financial services. We’ve been impressed by her performance across the board, but especially when she came to speak at New America. Check out the video of her talking about “the complexity machine.“

This is no ordinary appointment, being the first leader of this new bureaucracy brings with it tremendous opportunity to shape the direction of the CFPB, and as the Globe points out, “For average Americans, the bureau is likely to be one of the most visible aspects of the massive financial overhaul. The bureau is designed to protect consumers, and will oversee some of the everyday transactions involving credit cards, checking accounts, and mortgages.” In addition, this Dodd-Frank bill is set up to empower regulators, and as Ezra Klein said yesterday, “the success — or failure — of health-care reform and financial regulation left me heavily convinced about the importance of securing strong leadership for these efforts in the first place.” 

Ezra then draws a further comparison between Don Berwick (President Obama’s choice to head CMS, recess appointed today) and Elizabeth Warren as talented, but inherently controversial choices who would draw talented leaders to work with them as they go about implementing these new laws. There’s a longer point to be made about the increasing difficulty in getting presidential nominations approved by the Senate but I’ll leave that aside. The fact of the matter is that in order to succeed the CFPB will need a talented, industrious leader with a strong vision–even if a recess appointment is necessary to put that person into place.