WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Senate Banking Committee cleared the nomination of Richard Cordray to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by a vote of 12-10. The nomination will be voted on by the full Senate. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who chairs the Committee’s panel on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, introduced his fellow Ohioan at the nomination hearing last month and has repeatedly called for an end to partisan obstruction to the CFPB.

“The CFPB will play a vital role in helping rebuild our economy and Richard Cordray is the right person for the job. He has garnered the trust of everyone from business leaders to consumer advocacy groups to law enforcement,” Brown said. “The American people are fed up with the partisanship in Washington. Now is not the time to play a dangerous game with the financial security of millions of families and businesses. It’s time we focus on moving forward – armed with the tools that can create jobs and strengthen our economy.

“I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will set aside partisan ideology and focus on the needs of middle-class Americans,” Brown continued. “Richard Cordray’s distinguished career – Supreme Court clerk, attorney, Ohio Solicitor General, Ohio Treasurer, and Ohio Attorney General – has shown he is the right person for the job at the right time for our country. It is time to put this consumer cop on the beat.”

Earlier this week, Brown held a hearing entitled, “Consumer Protection and Middle Class Wealth Building in an Age of Growing Household Debt” to examine how increased oversight and transparency of financial products can create jobs and support financial stability. Douglas Fecher, president and CEO of Wright-Patterson Federal Credit Union, testified at Tuesday’s hearing in support of Cordray.

“The greater transparency and consumer disclosure required by the new agency simply highlights the way credit unions have always done business,” Fecher said. “Richard Cordray, a fellow-Ohioan who has been nominated as the agency’s director, has outstanding qualifications and understands the unique role credit unions play in the lives of consumers. We hope the agency empowers credit unions to do their jobs of helping consumers make smart use of credit without creating even higher regulatory costs.”

Following passage of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Brown joined 11 senators in urging President Obama to nominate someone with a proven history of standing up to unfair and abusive practices in the financial industry, particularly in the area of consumer protection. The CFPB is aimed at helping to prevent another meltdown by cracking down on financial tricks and traps designed to deceive consumers.

Cordray was nominated by President Obama to head the CFPB on July 18, with his nomination receiving widespread support from Democrats, Republicans, business leaders and consumer advocates. Despite the breadth of support for his nomination, 44 Republican senators pledged to block his nomination unless changes are made that would weaken the potential of the Bureau to exercise effective oversight over financial institutions. Just last month, new reports surfaced indicating that banks and mortgage processors have continued forging signatures and submitting false affidavits related to foreclosure proceedings.

Cordray currently serves as Chief of Enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Cordray served as Attorney General of Ohio from January 2009 to January 2011.  As Attorney General, Cordray recovered more than $2 billion for Ohio’s retirees, investors and business owners and took major steps to help protect its consumers from fraudulent foreclosures and financial predators.  Prior to his tenure as Ohio’s Attorney General, Cordray spent two years as Ohio’s State Treasurer and four as the Treasurer of Franklin County, Ohio.  In 2008, he received a Financial Services Champion award from the U.S. Small Business Administration and a Government Service Award from NeighborWorks America.  In 2005, he was named “County Leader of the Year” by American City & County Magazine

Earlier in his career, Cordray was an adjunct professor at the Ohio State University College of Law (1989-2002), served as a State Representative for the 33rd Ohio House District (1991-1993), was the first Solicitor General in Ohio’s history (1993-1994), and was a sole practitioner and of counsel to Kirkland & Ellis (1995-2007).  Cordray has argued seven cases before the United States Supreme Court, including by special appointment of both the Clinton and Bush Justice Departments.  Cordray is a graduate of Michigan State University, Oxford University, and the University of Chicago Law School.  He was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Chicago Law Review and later clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.

 

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