{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/warner-kaine-join-44-senators-urging-president-trump-to-swiftly-nominate-aggressive-head-of-consumer-watchdog", "Warner, Kaine Join 44 Senators Urging President Trump To Swiftly Nominate Aggressive Head Of Consumer Watchdog", "2017-12-05", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Warner, Kaine Join 44 Senators Urging President Trump To Swiftly Nominate Aggressive Head Of Consumer Watchdog\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTuesday, December 5, 2017\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t~ Express concern over White House appointment of Mick Mulvaney as part-time acting CFPB director ~\r\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) joined 44 Senators in a letter urging President Trump to follow the law and swiftly nominate a permanent director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) who will put working families ahead of Wall Street.\r\nIn their letter, the senators cited the CFPB\u2019s much-needed \u201caggressive enforcement and supervision,\u201d which has resulted in $12 billion in relief to 29 million American consumers who were cheated by financial companies.\r\nThe senators also expressed serious concerns with the White House installing Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as part-time acting director on November 24th. Mulvaney has a clear record opposing the CFPB, calling it a \u201csick joke,\u201d and has sought to abolish it.\r\nIn his first act as part-time acting director, Mulvaney moved to freeze the payments to working Americans who\u2019ve been cheated.\r\n\u201cAssigning leadership of the CFPB to someone who already has a full-time job reporting to the White House and who does not believe in the CFPB\u2019s mission jeopardizes the agency\u2019s independence and effectiveness,\u201d the senators wrote.\u00a0 \u201cWe urge you to nominate a CFPB Director who will bring to the job both bipartisan support and a track record of being tough on Wall Street. Following the Dodd-Frank succession provision and nominating a Director who will fight for consumers allows the CFPB to continue its work without political interference.\u201d\r\nThe full text of the letter is below and available here.\r\nThe Honorable Donald J. Trump\r\nPresident\r\nThe White House\r\n1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW\r\nWashington, D.C. 20500\r\nDear President Trump,\r\nAfter the 2008 financial crisis wiped out trillions of dollars of wealth and the jobs of millions of Americans, Congress passed important financial reforms and created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an independent watchdog to protect people from financial scams.[1]\r\nThrough aggressive enforcement and supervision, CFPB actions have resulted in $12 billion in relief for more than 29 million American consumers who were cheated by financial companies.[2] The CFPB has taken almost 200 enforcement actions: against mortgage schemes that rip off struggling borrowers, against predatory financial firms that set up shop next to military bases to target servicemembers, against scam for-profit schools that take advantage of veterans\u2019 benefits, and against companies that train their employees to trap consumers in debt.[3]\r\nThese are the enforcement results that the National Fraternal Order of Police and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general expected when they endorsed Rich Cordray\u2019s nomination and said he would be \u201can effective partner in combating fraud and other illegal schemes[.]\u201d[4]\r\nHis nomination passed the Senate with 66 votes, including 12 Republicans.[5]\r\nIn a 2016 campaign speech, you said \u201c\u2026[T]his election is a choice between taking our government back from the special interests, or surrendering our last scrap of independence to their total and complete control.\u201d[6] Polling shows that the vast majority of Americans agree that the CFPB has been doing great work holding special interests accountable. 74% of Americans -- Republicans and Democrats -- approve of the CFPB\u2019s mission and 55% of Republicans who voted for you believe that the CFPB should be left alone to do its work or even be given expanded authority to do more.[7]\r\nAssigning leadership of the CFPB to someone who already has a full-time job reporting to the White House and who does not believe in the CFPB\u2019s mission jeopardizes the agency\u2019s independence and effectiveness. We urge you to nominate a CFPB Director who will bring to the job both bipartisan support and a track record of being tough on big banks and other financial firms that rip off consumers. Following the Dodd-Frank succession provision and nominating a Director who will fight for consumers allows the CFPB to continue its work without political interference.\r\nPlease stand up for American military service members and veterans, students, seniors and workers.\r\nSincerely,\u00a0\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/warner-kaine-join-44-senators-urging-president-trump-to-swiftly-nominate-aggressive-head-of-consumer-watchdog"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.503797946497798, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}