CFPB Chief Nominee Named

If approved by the Senate, Kathy Kraninger would succeed her boss, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, who’s led the consumer watchdog part-time since November.

“She will bring a fresh perspective and much-needed management experience to the BCFP, which has been plagued by excessive spending, dysfunctional operations, and politicized agendas,” White House spokeswoman Lindsey Walters said in a statement. She termed Kraninger “a staunch supporter of free enterprise.”

What’s likely to be a difficult confirmation process could take months, and Mulvaney has said he expects to be at the bureau until the end of the year.

The CFPB is one of the most politically divisive agencies in Washington, hailed as a regulatory crown jewel by Democrats while maligned by Republicans as a bastion of government overreach and waste. Its broad framework was created by Elizabeth Warren, now a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, after the global financial crisis a decade ago, to protect consumers from financial abuse.

Kraninger joined the Office of Management and Budget as an associate director in 2017, and has overseen the budget for financial regulators — experience that the White House believes will be beneficial in her new role.

She previously worked for the Department of Homeland Security and in various roles on Capital Hill including on the staff of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is chaired by Sen Richard Shelby (R-Alabama). Collins and Shelby are likely to be key allies in Kraninger’s confirmation effort.

Kraninger would inherit an agency that’s been roiled by a shift to Republican leadership under Mulvaney from its roots as a scourge of financial firms under Obama administration appointee Richard Cordray, a Democrat now running for governor of Ohio.

Mulvaney has been praised by Republican lawmakers for reining in an agency they saw as unaccountable, while liberals, led by Warren, have accused him of dismantling the bureau and putting consumers at risk.

As acting director, Mulvaney has conducted a top-to-bottom review of the agency’s enforcement, supervisory and rule-making functions. He’s frozen data collection in the name of security, and dropped enforcement cases.

Kraninger is a 2007 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, according to her LinkedIn profile, and before that graduated from Marquette University. She grew up in Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

One of the biggest challenges she would face is managing the agency’s more than 1,600 employees, many of whom have become increasingly worried about keeping their jobs as Mulvaney has directed his advisers to find ways to significantly cut next year’s budget. Steps being considered include moving staff to places like Dallas, reorganizing workers, and eliminating some departments.