McConnell statement on so-called recess appointment of Cordray as CPFB director

SSenate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement about President Obama's "unprecedented" so-called recess appointment today.

Arrogantly Circumventing the American People with an Unprecedented 'Recess Appointment' of an Unaccountable Czar

'Breaking from this precedent lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress’s role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch.

Louisville, KY – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell issued the following statement today regarding the President's unprecedented recess appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the new CFPB while the Senate is not in recess:

Although the Senate is not in recess, President Obama, in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people by 'recess' appointing Richard Cordray as director of the new CFPB [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau]. This recess appointment represents a sharp departure from a long-standing precedent that has limited the President to recess appointments only when the Senate is in a recess of 10 days or longer. Breaking from this precedent lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress’s role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch.

The CFPB is poised to be one of the least accountable and most powerful agencies in Washington. Created by the deeply flawed Dodd-Frank law, it is subject to none of the checks that independent agencies normally operate under, and will have an unprecedented reach and control over individual consumer decisions. Earlier this year, 44 of my Senate Republican colleagues and I served notice that we will not confirm any nominee as director, regardless of party, until structural changes are made to make the bureau accountable to the American people—and more transparent. Our request was met with silence from the administration. As a result just last month the Senate rejected Cordray's nomination. Congress has a constitutional duty to examine presidential nominees, a responsibility that serves as a check on executive power. But once again, the president has chosen to circumvent the confirmation process."

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