Senate Confirms Rohit Chopra to Lead CFPB

By a vote of 50-48 yesterday evening, Rohit Chopra was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for a five-year term. Chopra’s nomination was announced in January before President Biden assumed office.

Chopra has served as a Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission since 2018 and said he plans to focus on getting relief to Americans struggling through the pandemic by policing credit bureaus and mortgage and student lenders.

Chopra worked with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on establishing the CFPB, then joined the bureau in 2011 to investigate industry abuse in the student lending market as assistant director and student loan ombudsman. He criticized private student lenders for mistreating borrowers and helped set the groundwork for President Obama’s Student Aid Bill of Rights.

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle were quick to weigh in.

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) congratulated Chopra on his confirmation, saying, “at a time when consumers need a strong watchdog, Mr. Chopra will be an advocate for working families.”

Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said, “the CFPB will have a leader who is ready to stand up to the biggest banks and the most powerful corporations to protect families, service members, students, and the elderly.”

And Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, issued a lengthy statement in opposition to Chopra’s nomination.

“I have grave concerns that Commissioner Chopra would return the CFPB to the lawless, overreaching, highly politicized agency it was during the Obama administration,” Toomey said.