December 1 statement by Sen. Robert J. Portman (R.-Ohio) on the confirmation of Richard Cordray to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:
“As we stated in our letter to President Obama, and as I reiterated in my conversation with Mr. Cordray, there are serious problems in the current structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I have always believed the way to avoid regulatory excess is through accountability, but the CFPB was designed to be entirely unaccountable to the American people. Unfortunately, instead of working with me and other Republicans to reform this new bureaucracy, the White House has stonewalled requests for cooperation, wanting a political showdown more than a way forward.”