Warren warns fellow Dems: Don’t rework consumer agency

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) is warning her fellow Democrats to think twice before joining with Republicans to rework the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Warren, who helped set up the agency before running for Senate, fired a warning shot toward moderates in her own party Monday who might be tempted to cross the aisle.

{mosads}“Let me be clear: It’s foolish for any Dem to think that weakening support for the @CFPB is good for the country or good for us as a party,” she tweeted.

Across several tweets, Warren made the case that the CFPB — long opposed by the Republican Party — is a force for good for consumers, protecting them from wrongdoing by large financial institutions.

“The real reason Wall St & their @GOP allies are going after the @CFPB is because it’s working too darn well for consumers & must be stopped,” she said. “If I were Wall Street & the GOP, I’d be scared too: The @CFPB goes after big banks like @WellsFargo when they break the law.”

Warren is a vocal supporter of the CFPB, and is widely seen as its architect. As a Harvard Law professor, she made the case for a government agency devoted specifically to protecting consumers in the financial marketplace. And after the Dodd-Frank financial reform law authorized the agency, she was tapped by President Obama to help set it up.

However, the agency is expected to go through some dramatic changes following the election of President-Elect Donald Trump. Republicans have long wanted to overhaul the agency, arguing it is too powerful and lacks necessary checks on its authority.

Items on the GOP wishlist include replacing the CFPB’s director with a bipartisan commission, and subjecting the agency’s budget to congressional appropriations. Similar efforts have been steadily resisted by Democrats in Congress, but with Republicans returning with control of both chambers and the White House, such efforts are likely to be revived.

But even if no legislation gains traction, the CFPB is in for big changes. Trump will almost assuredly replace Richard Cordray as the CFPB’s director, and likely nominate someone who is seen as more friendly to the financial industry.

A recent court ruling gave the president the power to remove the CFPB director at will.