Consumer Bureau Under New Attacks by Republicans

WASHINGTON – House Republicans threatened Thursday to try and roll back the scope and authority of the new consumer financial protection bureau even before it officially opens for business next week.

At a combative hearing before the House oversight and government reform committee, Republicans squared off against Elizabeth Warren, who is supervising the startup of agency, and challenged her to explain what they saw as a bloated $500 million budget, an overly broad mandate and regulatory powers that could deter lending.

The Republicans pointedly asked Ms. Warren numerous times whether there were any credit instruments or vehicles now in use, like payday lending, that she thought should be “banned” as abusive under her new authority. She said there were not, but when Republicans pressed her to give back her authority to ban such practices, she balked, calling the power an important regulatory tool.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which formally opens for business next Tuesday, was created by the Dodd-Frank financial legislation as a way of protecting consumers against troubling lending practices. Ms. Warren, who was making her second difficult appearance before the committee, said one of her top priorities would be to push for clearer language in loan forms to ensure borrowers understand what they are getting. She said tougher oversight of consumer lending should make credit cheaper, not more expensive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/business/consumer-bureau-under-new-attacks-by-republicans.html?ref=us

and middle folks.