WASHINGTON — As it looks to shut down the agency, President Donald Trump has nominated Stuart Levenbach to serve as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a move Washington analysts said appears to be designed to allow acting chief Russell Vought to continue leading the agency without Senate confirmation as the administration seeks to wind down the Bureau.
Levenbach currently serves at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as associate director for natural resources, energy, science and water, and previously served as chief of staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during the earlier Trump administration.
Scaled-Back Operations
As the CU Daily has been reporting, Acting Director Vought has already moved to freeze large parts of the agency’s operations, eliminate a significant portion of its workforce and dial back many of its rules.
Politico reported that by nominating Levenbach, the administration triggers the provisions of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which allows Vought’s acting tenure to extend while the Senate considers the nomination — effectively sidestepping the typical 210-day cap on acting status.
‘Nothing More Than a Front’
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA.), the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee and one of the CFPB’s original architects nearly 20 years ago, was critical of the nomination, calling it “nothing more than a front for Russ Vought to stay on as Acting Director indefinitely as he tries to illegally close down the agency.”
As the CU Daily also recently reported, the White House has stated it does not plan to draw new funds from the Federal Reserve System past year-end to pay for the CFPB’s operations.
The nomination now goes to the Senate for confirmation hearings, though no date has yet been scheduled.
