Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Interim appointment

It's good to see that the reality of American politics has finally broken through to our President. He has received negligible support from the Republicans on anything, and they have declared openly that they would not approve any head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless the Bureau, set up through a super-majority (filibuster proof) vote of Congress, is stripped of many of its powers.

Consider, then, the following quote from Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican leader: “Although the Senate is not in recess, President Obama, in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people.” On the face of it, this is about as absurd a statement as can be made. When a President is not allowed to appoint a qualified head of a federal agency that was created by majorities of both houses of Congress, who exactly is trying to circumvent the American people?

This is the latest in a long list of Republican gas attacks on the truth, and is further proof that both parties are not equally to blame for the impasses in Congress. Let's hope that, for a change, the media will point this out.

Thanks Mr. President for shoving the eminently reasonable Cordray interim appointment down the throats of the Republicans -- couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of phonies.

6 comments:

  1. Yes it was created by a majority of both houses, but that was when both houses were run by lunatics. The same lunatics who claim that I am not "paying my fair share" when I actually am.

    Why do we want a bureau with no serious Congressional checks? It is an empire unto itself, part of the Federal Reserve but not reporting to the Fed Chairman. Shouldn't it be accountable to elected officials and subject to Congressional appropriations?

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  2. There are checks to the powers of this bureau, and you could find out about them if you take the trouble.

    No comment is necessary on the first part of you post.

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  3. It's good to see that the good Senator agrees with you now that he is down in the polls to Elizabeth Warren. He's a real man of the people and not a "Harvard elitist." I hope that I won't have the opportunity to examine his "populist" voting record over the next six years.

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  4. What checks are there which you would consider to have teeth?

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  5. By "teeth" do you mean "ability of Republicans to scuttle consumer protections they don't like" (namely: nearly all that apply to big banks)?

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  6. For starters, I mean a structure where the agency is run by a commission/board rather than one person and has a budget dependent on appropriations rather than a huge percentage of the Fed's budget

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