President Donald Trump’s pick for new interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was challenged on Sunday night in a lawsuit filed in federal court.
The lawsuit was filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia by Leandra English, the current interim director of the bureau and former chief of staff, against Trump’s choice of his budget director Mick Mulvaney for the position. In her suit, English asked for a temporary restraining order which would prevent Mulvaney from taking on the post in the bureau.
She referred to the Dodd-Frank Act, under which Trump doesn’t have the power to appoint Mulvaney as interim director considering she has already been chosen to succeed Richard Cordray, the previous acting director. Cordray, who has been long been criticized by Republicans as too aggressive in his policies, resigned last Friday, picking English for the position.
The agency was called “a joke” by Mulvaney, who believes it is an example of bureaucracy getting out of control. Should he become its next director, Mulvaney will most likely take apart much of the agency’s doing. The White House claimed on Sunday Trump has the authority to appoint a new acting director of the agency, which was supported by the head of office Steven A. Engel, who maintained that under the Vacancies Reform Act, the president can do that.
Senator John Thune said he expected Mulvaney will soon succeed Cordray and will “be calling the shots over there.” The senator also expressed hopes that the agency will be reformed, Associated Press reports.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi attacked Trump’s decision to appoint Mulvaney, saying “all Americans should be deeply concerned about the White House’s cynical decision to flout the law and attempt to put the ringleader of its dangerous, anti-consumer protection policies in charge.”
She added that people deserved someone who would protect them from bankers and lenders, not a pawn who takes consumer protection as a joke. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined Pelosi in her attack of Trump, noting that by picking Mulvaney the president was breaking the law. Schumer further expressed his support of English as rightful director of the bureau. Other Democrats condemned the decision to put Mulvaney in charge of the bureau, calling it an attempt to destroy it.
“Wall Street hates it like the devil hates holy water. And they’re trying to put an end to it with,” said Senator Dick Durbin.
Be the first to comment