The White House intends to nominate a budget official to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, setting up what is expected to be a contentious fight in Congress about the direction the agency is taking in the Trump administration, the Wall Street Journal reported. The nomination of Kathy Kraninger, an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, to head the consumer-finance bureau formed by Democrats in 2011 after the financial crisis, drew support from some in the industry and swift condemnation from policy advocates both on the left and right. She is a “mid-level budget staffer lacking expertise, chosen to lead one of the most powerful agencies in the government,” said J.W. Verret, a law professor at George Mason University who was chief economist for Rep. Jeb Hensarling, (R-Texas). Liberal groups accused the administration of making a placeholder nomination to keep Mick Mulvaney, the Trump-appointed acting CFPB head who also serves as her boss at OMB, in power longer. While Kraninger’s confirmation is pending in the Senate — a process that usually takes months — Mulvaney, who serves as both budget chief and interim head of the CFPB, can continue to lead the bureau.
