The U.S. Senate Banking Committee plans to vote today on the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, though a vote by the full Senate still faces considerable barriers, Bloomberg News reported today. Even if the Democrat-controlled banking panel approves President Barack Obama's second nomination of Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general cannot be confirmed unless Senate Republicans and Democrats can overcome a deadlock that has so far prevented a full-Senate vote. Cordray's nomination has been mired since 2011 in a dispute over Republican demands that the agency be restructured with a commission to run it, instead of a director, and a budget subjected to the congressional appropriations process. Its budget is currently drawn directly from the Federal Reserve. Obama nominated Cordray to a five-year term on Jan. 24, more than a year after installing the former Ohio attorney general in the position using a recess appointment. Obama used the procedure to bypass Republican opposition in the Senate, where 60 of the 100 members must agree to allow a vote to occur on the floor. More than 40 Republican Senators have pledged to block a floor vote on any nominee to run the CFPB unless their demands are met.
