Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The 113th Congress Most Diverse Congress In History

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One of the greatest results of the Congressional Elections of 2012 is the tremendous diversity that will be present in the upcoming 113th Congress, which begins on January 3.

Just in the new membership, there will be:

4 African Americans
10 Latino Americans
5 Asian Americans
24 Women
2 Hindus
1 Buddhist
1 Non theist
4 openly gay
1 openly bisexual
1 gay of color
4 born in the 1980s

It will include such likely stars of the future as:

Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, whose brother, Julian Castro, is Mayor of that city
Joe Garcia, who is the first Cuban Democrat to represent Miami
Ted Cruz, second Cuban Republican Senator, from Texas
Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, first Hindu Congresswoman
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, first Buddhist Senator
Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Iraq War hero and diabled from her service in the war
Lois Frankel of Florida, former Mayor of West Palm Beach
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, professor and promoter of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, first openly gay Senator
Patrick Murphy of Florida, youngest member of the new House
Joseph Kennedy III, son of former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II, and grandson of Robert Kennedy

It will be a most interesting Congress coming up in 2013-2014!

Scott Brown Vs. Elizabeth Warren: The Key Senate Race Above All Others!

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Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown is engaged in the most combative Senate race of all against Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren for the Senate seat held for nearly 47 years by Ted Kennedy.

Brown won a surprising victory in the special election in 2010 to succeed Kennedy for the rest of his term, and is the only Republican to represent the state of Massachusetts, which has an all Democratic House delegation, a Democratic Governor, and a dominant Democratic majority in the state legislature.

Brown has had a difficult course to follow, and has tried to come across as moderate, like Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, but he has voted over 90 percent of the time with his party, and has refused to back President Obama on almost anything he asked for, including jobs legislation, and is now acting very aggressively against his opponent, who worked with Obama, and helped to start the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, although GOP Senate opposition prevented her from running this new agency, so she decided to run for the Senate. Brown has come across as in bed with Wall Street, gaining a lot of financial support from top banking and corporate interests.

Elizabeth Warren is an inspiring candidate, who clearly is for the middle class and the poor, and comes across as a hero of progressives, who supports the DREAM Act, which Brown is against, and is clearly a strong Obama supporter who would fight for progressive causes in the manner that Ted Kennedy did for so long!

Their second debate last night in Massachusetts demonstrated that Brown is ready to use rhetoric in a way that is divisive, including his derision of Warren as being a professor who may control her students but not him; saying she is not native American because of her appearance despite her assertions that she is; allowing his staff to make fun of native Americans publicly; and making clear that he considers her a left wing extremist not in the mainstream, as he claims he is. When he said that Antonin Scalia was his favorite Supreme Court Justice, then swung to Anthony Kennedy, John Roberts, and finally Sonia Sotomayor, the audience seemed to turn against him.

The debate brought up the issue that if Brown is reelected, he could decide a Republican majority in the Senate, and would have a dramatic effect on Supreme Court appointments of the next President, and would certainly NOT, based on his record and his rhetoric, be following in the tradition of Ted Kennedy!

This race is crucial to the future of the Obama Presidency in so many ways, and with Obama certain to win the state of Massachusetts, the hope is that he will have adequate coat tails to carry Warren into the Senate as his champion, and have Warren join Bernie Sanders and others in promoting the progressive agenda over the next four years!

About Time For Regulation Of Credit Bureaus and Debt Collection Agencies!

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking steps to supervise and to investigate the abuses of the three national credit bureaus and debt collection agencies, both of which have abused their power, and in the process, have ruined the lives of millions of Americans over a period of many years.

The credit bureaus have the ability to destroy a person’s credit rating, and deny such persons the ability to get a decent credit card interest rate, mortgages, auto loans, and even student loans.

Debt collection agencies have long been infamous for calling people at all hours, harassing them, and driving many people who owe money, but have no means to pay, to the point of lunacy.

These kinds of practices need to be stopped, and this is further proof of the virtues of this new agency opposed by big business corporations and the Republican Party. It is time that the American people are fairly represented in disputes over their credit worthiness and debt, and we can thank President Obama’s administration for courageously taking action to deal with this long held grievance by average Americans.

Proper And Smart Move For Obama To Make Recess Appointments For Consumer Financial Protection Bureau And National Labor Relations Board

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President Obama has been stymied constantly on appointments to various government agencies by Republican filibusters in the US Senate.

The Republicans are not contending that Obama’s appointments are not qualified, but simply playing politics and refusing to approve appointments to necessary positions on important government agencies.

So the President, in another example of aggressiveness, has made a recess appointment of Richard Cordray, former Ohio Attorney General, to be the heed of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency formulated by Elizabeth Warren, who knew she would never be approved to head the bureau, so is running for the US Senate.

Recess appointments are allowed in the Constitution to prevent Congress from paralyzing government by refusal to fill positions in government agencies. Barack Obama has not been the first President to do this, with George W. Bush using the power extensively, most notable with John Bolton as a recess appointment to be United Nations Ambassador.

Cordray’s appointment will be effective for two years, to the end of 2013.
And Obama also made three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, another government agency that Republicans wish to paralyze, but Obama took action and should be commended for it.

This is the fighting Obama that should have been there from day one, fighting the GOP, but after nearly three years of trying to get along and work with Republicans, Obama is following the aggressive tactics of Democratic Presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Bill Clinton! Kudos to him!

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Republicans And Wall Street Bankers Attempt To Destroy It!

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The Republican Party is in full attack on the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau passed by the Democrats into law after a long battle, in which Elizabeth Warren became the number one target of the opposition party, and was unable to be named head of the new agency she helped create.

Instead, Elizabeth Warren is running for the US Senate, and in her place, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray was nominated to head the new agency.

But instead of Barack Obama appeasing the opposition by Warren’s withdrawal, the Republicans have now gone ahead and prevented a vote on Cordray’s nomination, which would get a majority if the 60 vote filibuster requirement for a vote was possible, but instead the vote was 53-45.

Interestingly, the one Republican vote for Cordray was from Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who faces Warren in his Senate reelection battle next year, and obviously wanted to cover his rear end, particularly with some polls now showing Warren leading Brown, who has been called the “darling” of the Wall Street bankers in regards to campaign contributions!

President Obama denounced the Senate vote, and is considering a recess appointment to get Cordray into the position. Meanwhile, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch claims the bill is harming the banks, as if they do not make enough profit, and have not done great harm to millions of homeowners and those who use their credit cards, with illegal, unethical, and immoral actions!

Obama needs to declare greater war on the banks, as they are the greatest evil that exists in America, and the most responsible for the economic collapse we are involved in, and some of these Chief Executive Officers and their underlings need to be prosecuted and go to prison for a long time for their reprehensible white collar crimes that have destroyed so many people!

Two Hopes For The Future Of Politics: Elizabeth Warren And Ilya Sheyman

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Many Americans are turned off to politics, and have the growing feeling that it makes no difference who you put in office, as they will be beholden to the “special interests”, rather than the citizenry who elects them.

And yet, there is growing hope that some people running for public office in 2012 actually cannot be controlled or owned by lobbyists and special interests, and two of them are: Elizabeth Warren, running for the Massachusetts Senate seat of Scott Brown, who replaced Ted Kennedy in a special election at the beginning of 2010, but who is one of the most “owned” candidates by the big corporations; and an unknown Illinois Congressional candidate in the Tenth District north of Chicago, Ilya Sheyman, attempting to oust a Tea Party Republican freshman named Robert Dold.

Warren is famous for having promoted the passage of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, one of the major accomplishments of the Obama Presidency. However, the Republicans made it clear that they would oppose her appointment as its head, so Warren turned around and decided to challenge Brown for his Senate seat, and this will be one of the premier stories of 2012, as she inspires many progressives who have hopes for change from the old system that has dominated Washington, DC for so long.

Just as inspiring is the story of 25 year old Soviet Jewish immigrant Ilya Sheyman, who migrated with his parents at age 4 from the Soviet Union. Appearing on UP-WITH CHRIS HAYES on MSNBC this morning, we learned of his motivation to promote the progressive movement, after experience as a community organizer in Waukegan, Illinois; service in the office of Senator Barack Obama; and national Mobilization Director at MoveOn.org.

Warren and Sheyman are both very impressive in their sincerity and commitment at a time when cynicism reigns supreme, so all who care about the future should work to elect Warren and Sheyman and like minded reformers!

A Leading Senate Race For 2012: Senator Scott Brown Vs. Elizabeth Warren In Massachusetts!

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It is clear that one of the leading Senate races of 2012, and one of the best hopes to regain a Republican seat, is the potential match up of Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Harvard Law School Professor and consumer rights advocate Elizabeth Warren!

Warren helped Barack Obama to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but so antagonized Republicans that it became clear that she could not be approved by the Senate to become its head, and the GOP is working very hard to weaken the new agency!

Warren is an inspirational reformer, but it will be hard to win the seat from Brown, who has come across as moderate and mainstream more than any Republican Senator with the exception of the two Maine Republicans, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins! Brown has worked hard to gain support from the normally liberal Democratic constituency of Massachusetts politics.

Warren, being an intellectual, might have trouble convincing blue collar Democrats to vote for her, and additionally, she faces up to six opponents for the Democratic nomination, which is far from guaranteed. The primary takes place a full year from now, and therefore, allows less than two months from winning the primary to the fall election against Scott Brown, who will face no opposition in the Republican Party statewide or nationally, just happy to have another Republican vote for organization of what might be a majority GOP Senate in 2013!

Republicans Declare War On The New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!

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The Republicans in the US Senate have declared war on the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which passed into law last year, and has finally found a person to lead it, as President Obama has chosen former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new agency.

Cordray was chosen, instead of Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren, who really led the effort to create the new agency, but in so doing, alienated Republicans and the banking community, neither of whom wants any regulations that help consumers, when it comes to credit cards, car loans, and home mortgages. So, Obama, in trying to be more cautious, selected Cordray, who has been active with Warren in support of the agency’s creation, but has not caused the personal animosity that Warren has apparently brought about, just by advocating for the agency.

It seems doubtful that Cordray will be able to be confirmed, as the Republicans can insist on a 60 vote majority just to vote on the nomination, and have no problem with showing themselves to be anti consumer! It is just another example of the outrage that the GOP has become, refusing to cooperate with Obama on ANYTHING, while Obama has made many concessions!

The irony of it all is that Elizabeth Warren may now go back to Massachusetts and challenge Senator Scott Brown for his Senate seat in 2012, so imagine if she does do so, and wins, she will be a colleague of these Republican colleagues who have always wished her ill, because she cares about the average American consumer!

What a sad and tragic state of affairs this country is in at this difficult moment in American history!

Banks Hate Elizabeth Warren: Great Reason For Obama Appointment as Head Of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!

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Yesterday, President Obama made one of his very best appointments in 20 months in office, when he chose Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren as the head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!

By making her a Presidential adviser, he gives her a seat at the table, able to consult regularly with Obama, and he avoids a difficult confirmation fight with the Republicans in the Senate, since presidential advisers do not need Senate confirmation, so he is gaining her involvement without the headache of a partisan battle!

Of course, the GOP will be upset, but who cares? And, of course, the banking industry is furious, because Warren has been a major critic for years of how banks treat consumers!

Warren has called for a short, explainable mortgage agreement, which would prevent banks from bilking consumers of billions of dollars in undisclosed fees, and deny banks the ability to confuse consumers with long pages of legalese! She would also prevent unwarranted, burdensome fees imposed by credit card companies, and force auto loans to be disclosed in exact details as to fees and charges! Additionally, student loans would be accomplished with the end of banking abuses!

The more the banks hate Warren, the more we as consumers should love her! And the Republican and conservative opposition to her, as a person who speaks for the people, should be responded to as opposition to the interests of the country, and be reacted to at the polls by a smashing repudiation! 🙁

Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren Should Be Head Of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!

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Now that the Financial Reform legislation has passed both houses of Congress and will be going into effect soon, the President has to find someone to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the right person is Professor Elizabeth Warren of Harvard University!

Warren has been the head of the Congressional bailout oversight panel, and has been tough on the Treasury Department on how they spent their money, and been a critic of a housing program that has not protected homeowners!

Warren has been a consumer advocate and watchdog, and a long term critic of Wall Street, which, along with Republicans, is fighting her nomination! The fact that she wants to hold Wall Street accountable is more than enough reason to appoint her to head this new consumer agency, which has been sorely needed for a long time!

This is a woman of courage and conviction, who will really be there for the American people, and hold the banking industry responsible for their reprehensible behavior which led to the Great Recession we are suffering through now for two and a half years!

If President Obama gives in to the pressure to deny her the leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, then one will have to have doubts about his sincerity in pushing for this legislation, and progressives and liberals will have to reconsider their support of a President who caves in to pressure from the right wing! 🙁