WASHINGTON – Democratic Members of the House Financial Services Committee today released a joint letter to Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), calling for him to agree to a vote of the full Senate on the nomination of Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

In early May, forty-four Senate Republicans vowed not to confirm anyone to head the CFPB unless certain demands are met, effectively blocking implementation of a law passed by Congress.

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to prevent predatory practices like those that helped precipitate the financial crisis.  However, the Bureau may only exercise its full power after a director is confirmed by the Senate.  By refusing to confirm any nominee, regardless of qualifications, Senate Republicans are leaving consumers vulnerable to unscrupulous financial services providers.

The situation was made particularly poignant by the recent testimony of Holly Petraeus, wife of CIA Director David Petraeus, before the Senate Banking Committee.  In her testimony, Petraeus described the progress already being made by the CFPB, but stressed the importance of allowing her team “to stop circling the airfield and start their work.”

In the letter, all twenty-seven Democratic Members of the House Financial Services Committee urge Senator McConnell and his Republican colleagues to allow the normal confirmation process to move forward.  “We ask you to heed the words of Mrs. Petraeus,” they write, “who, when asked what the one thing Congress could do to help the CFPB better protect servicemembers, said, ‘Confirm a director for us so we can use the full array of what’s there.’”

The letter is signed by: 

Click here to read the letter.