The Senate Banking Committee has announced that it will hold its confirmation vote on Kathy Kraninger’s nomination to be the next director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection on August 23. The committee had originally scheduled the vote for earlier this month, but it was postponed without providing a reason.
There were reports that a push from Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.] was why the vote was postponed, as she sought answers from Kraninger about her role in various policies and decisions made by the Trump administrations. Answers which were not forthcoming from Kraninger.
Kraninger’s confirmation is one of six being voted on by the committee next week. If confirmed by the Senate Banking Committee — which is largely expected — Kraninger’s nomination will proceed to the entire Senate for confirmation, which is also expected.
Senate Democrats attacked Kraninger during her confirmation hearing last month, trying to get her to discuss her role in a policy that separated children from parents who were attempting to enter the U.S. illegally and her role in decisions made by the government related to disaster relief in Puerto Rico following the destruction cause by Hurricane Maria. Democrats also questioned Kraninger’s lack of consumer protection experience as a reason why she should not be confirmed to run the BCFP. Kraninger refused to answer questions about her role in the decision-making process and vowed to fulfill the bureau’s Congressional mandate to uphold the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act, the law which created the BCFP.
Kraniger is currently an associate director at the White House Office of Management & Budget. If confirmed, she would replace Mick Mulvaney, who has been acting director of the BCFP since last November, following the resignation of Richard Cordray. Mulvaney is also the director of the OMB.
