Stuart Levenbach, an associate director in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has been nominated by the White House to become the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The agency’s leadership position has been vacant since the start of the Trump administration, with OMB Director Russ Vought serving double duty as acting director. The initial choice for the job, Jonathan McKernan, was confirmed by the Senate Banking Committee in March but never voted upon by the full Senate. McKernan’s nomination was later withdrawn and he later put forth to become undersecretary of domestic finance at the Department of the Treasury.
However, The Hill is reporting that an unnamed official at the CFPB stated Levenbach’s nomination was a “technical” move designed to ensure Vought’s control over the agency, which he has sought to shut down. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, called the nomination “a front so for Vought “to stay on as acting director indefinitely as he tries to illegally close down the agency.”
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