The senior Democratic lawmaker said the CFPB chief and the Trump administration "are doing everything in their power to roll back consumer protections."
Eric Blankenstein, a political appointee overseeing fair-lending policy at the agency, said in an email to staff that his blog posts from 14 years ago that used a racial epithet “reflected poor judgment.”
A growing chorus of CFPB employees are arguing that Eric Blankenstein, policy director of supervision, enforcement and fair lending at the CFPB, cannot be trusted to do his job fairly given his past blog posts.
At least six Trump administration picks to fill financial posts are still pending, but the bitterly partisan divide over Judge Brett Kavanaugh has taken up most of the energy in Congress.
Another regulator has already gone out on its own with an advance notice of proposed rulemaking. But, Powell said, "It’s a process and we’re very much interested in pushing forward.”
As the House Financial Services Committee prepares to hold a hearing Thursday on oversight of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the exact focus of the hearing remains somewhat in flux.
Liang is currently a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and previously led a Fed board division in charge of financial stability policy and research.
The tightening of Senate races in Republican strongholds has raised the prospects of Democrats having even more influence on regulatory appointments and the legislative agenda.
The agency’s director has been under pressure to quit as he is investigated for sexual harassment allegations, but an agency spokesperson says he still plans to testify at a housing finance hearing slated for later this month.
