The U.S. Senate Banking Committee approved the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a party-line vote that reflected the remaining obstacle to his confirmation effort, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Yesterday's 12-10 committee vote saw all of the panel's Democrats back Cordray, while Republicans unanimously opposed him. Despite the committee approval, 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 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 congressional appropriations. Its budget is currently drawn directly from the Federal Reserve.
