A group of nine Republican Senators have written a letter to Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying that if Leandra English is successful in winning her court battle to be named interim director of the agency, they would take up efforts to undo any rules or regulations that would be issued during her tenure.
“Unfortunately, this rogue employee is trying to follow former CFPB Director Cordray’s example and run the agency as an unaccountable fourth branch of government,” the Senators wrote in their letter. “Should this employee prevail in court and successfully serve as Acting Director, we would support legislative efforts to invalidate any new rules finalized by the agency during this employee’s service, including the use of the Congressional Review Act. We would also fight to ensure the Congress defunds the CFPB until this employee has relinquished control of the CFPB.”
Leandra English was promoted to deputy director by former director Richard Cordray on the same day that Cordray resigned from the CFPB. Cordray and English are interpreting language from the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection Act that says the deputy director assumes the responsibilities of the director when the director is unavailable. President Trump, using the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, appointed Mulvaney as acting director. English has filed a lawsuit against President Trump seeking to block Mulvaney’s appointment. Her request for a temporary restringing order was denied by a federal judge earlier this week.
