Despite continuing threats by business groups to try to block his appointment, Richard Cordray, the new head of a federal consumer watchdog agency, seems to have reached something of a truce with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation?s most powerful business lobby.
At a news conference Thursday ? his first since getting a recess appointment to the job last week ? Cordray told reporters he?s talked with Tom Donohue, the president and CEO of the Chamber and met with other members of the organization to deliver a simple message: we?re here to protect honest businesses, too.
Continue Reading?What I want to say to business is, they should embrace the bureau,? he said, adding that he?s spoken to Donohue several times, including the day of his appointment, and talks often with the chamber.
?Not only are we going to protect consumers but we are going to support the honest and responsible businesses in the financial marketplace? from unscrupulous businesses who undercut them with impunity.
Meanwhile, in his annual state of business speech a few blocks away at Chamber headquarters, Donohue said the group wouldn?t sue ? at least not yet ? to reverse President Barack Obama?s contentious recess appointment of Cordray. Instead, he told members, the Chamber will focus on how the bureau intends to operate as the newly empowered cop on the financial services beat.
While the Chamber supports ?necessary, sensible, and forward-looking regulations,? Donohue said in his speech, ?it will ?continue to push for accountability and transparency at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.?
But he also included a swipe at Obama: ?It was deeply disappointing to see the president install a director without the advice and consent of the Senate and without any oversight from Congress,? Donohue said.
The relatively benign remarks are a sharp contrast to Donahue?s initial reaction to Cordray?s appointment, in which he slammed the president for a ?constitutionally questionable? move that he said bypassed the system of checks and balances and ignored repeated calls by Republican lawmakers for a more business-friendly overhaul of the new agency.
The Chamber and other business and banking industry groups also strongly suggested they?d sue to keep Cordray from taking office.
Since its creation as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul Obama signed into law in July 2010, Republicans have fought to recalibrate the bureau in favor of business, demanding that Obama scrap the strong-director format in favor of a bipartisan five-member board with direct congressional oversight.
In an attempt to get that change, GOP senators blocked Obama?s nomination of Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general with a strong reputation as a consumer advocate. They also tried to use a procedural maneuver to keep the Senate in session through the Christmas break to thwart Obama?s ability to make a recess appointment.
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