More from CFPB Nomination Hearing: Committee Democrats Unconvinced on Kraninger
Yesterday, we covered CFPB Nominee Kathy Kraninger’s remarks and initial reactions from her confirmation hearing. Today we’re digging into the questions that were asked, the response she got from members of the Senate Banking Committee, and what it means for her confirmation.
On the Republican side, the hearing went generally as planned. As reported in Politico’s Morning Money, “Republicans thought Kraninger did very well at the hearing and are not worried about her losing any votes on the GOP side, meaning her confirmation should be fine.”
That Morning Money Piece also included an email from University of Richmond Law School’s Carl Tobias, who noted that “while she was polite and reasonably well prepared… she did not persuade any Democrats.”
That could be an understatement. Democrats spent the bulk of the hearing arguing that her lack of financial industry regulatory experience effectively disqualified her for the job. They also went after her role at the Office of Management and Budget, where she oversaw agencies responsible for immigration policy and disaster response for Puerto Rico – both of which have evoked national outcries.
In the most heated exchange of the hearing, when asked by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) about whether she had any role in “developing or implementing” the immigration policy responsible for separating children from their parents, Kraninger said she had no role in setting the policy but wouldn’t discuss whether she had offered advice on it.
“You’ve given a very lawyerly and limited answer – you’re dodging,” Warren said. “The answers have also been contradictory. You’ve said you had no role in setting the policy, but you also can’t describe the advice you gave on the policy, which raises a question. Which is it – you had no role or you had a role and you can’t describe it?”
Kraninger responded that she had no role in developing it, but that after the announcement, there were meetings on the implementation that she participated in.
The Democratic attacks on her role in policies toward immigration and Puerto Rico come because Kraninger’s limited history in financial regulation and consumer protection leave little record in those areas to explore as part of the confirmation process. Democrats, too, are deeply passionate about the CFPB, as they spearheaded its creation after the financial crisis nearly a decade ago. After OMB Director Mick Mulvaney took over as acting CFPB director, they have been highly critical of the direction he has taken the agency.
