[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
Corrupt Government Title: Obama's idea of transparency: A financial czar shielded by the Fed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is moving to force a Senate vote later this week on President Obama's nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). That's the new bureaucracy more informally known as "Dodd-Frank," after it's principal authors of its enabling legislation, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. Obama's push for Cordray's confirmation is almost as intense as it was for the two Supreme Court justices he nominated. But why is the president who on his first day in office promised the most transparent and accountable government in American history rushing to confirm someone at a new bureau that is neither accountable nor transparent? Note that Dodd retired in 2010, while Frank is now serving his last term in the House, so neither will be in Congress when this bureaucratic monster-in-the-making starts roaring. Months ago, the Republican members of the Senate asked Obama to delay Cordray's confirmation until Congress reforms the CFPB to bring it out of the regulatory shadows. Obama has yet to respond to that request despite his repeated desire to "work with" GOP lawmakers in finding "common ground" on such issues. Presumably, Obama and the GOPers all want to make good on the chief executive's promise of transparency and accountability. But maybe the problem is that Obama doesn't think his transparency and accountability promise applies to the new financial regulatory bureau. We began to smell a rat a few days ago when Bloomberg News was finally able to report on the $7.7 trillion in emergency loans, guarantees and other measures by the Federal Reserve Bank in response to the Great Recession of 2008. We say "finally" because Bloomberg had to spend beaucoup bucks and months in federal court to force the Fed to release thousands of documents that underpinned its story. Bloomberg's difficulties are likely a glimpse of what will be standard operating procedure at the CFPB as it is currently structured. Congress will have virtually no oversight authority over the bureau because its budget comes under the Fed, not the congressional appropriation process. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Monday on the Senate floor, the CFPB thus has "a funding stream that's completely unique in government, entirely without a check from the American people and making it one of the least transparent agencies in Washington. If you like the level of accountability over at the Fed, you'll love the CFPB." As a result, the CFPB will be even less accountable than the nation's spy agencies, which are at least subject to closed-door congressional oversight. And one more thing: Since the CFPB is part of the Fed, which is technically not part of the federal government, don't expect the Freedom of Information Act to apply without a federal court order. Obama and the Democratic Congress have created a financial czar with unprecedented regulatory powers who works in a semi-secret bureau buried in the bowels of an untouchable Fed. How did this ever happen in America?
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|