President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. consumer watchdog survived aggressive questioning by lawmakers yesterday and looked on track to secure a confirmation vote that could come as soon as this month, Reuters reported. There were heated exchanges in the Senate as Democratic lawmakers grilled Kathy Kraninger, a government official, on her role in the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy and questioned whether she had relevant experience to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Kraninger is a senior official at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). She has extensive government managerial experience including at the Department of Homeland Security, which she helped set up, and at OMB where she manages the financial regulation portfolio, according to her biography. Democrats and even some conservative Republicans have said that Kraninger, who is not well known in Washington, lacks relevant consumer finance experience, meaning her confirmation rested heavily on her performance before the Senate Banking Committee. But Republican senators yesterday pointed to Kraninger’s strong government managerial experience, adding she would have the help of consumer finance experts at the bureau if confirmed. Kraninger fended off repeated attacks from Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Brian Schatz, who pressed Kraninger several times to clarify her involvement in the immigration policy that resulted in the separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents. Kraninger said several times she had no role in setting or developing that policy, but added when pushed that she had attended meetings relating to its implementation. Democrats also pushed Kraninger on her familiarity with consumer law, including the Military Lending Act, payday lending, credit card laws and discriminatory lending issues, with Senator Catherine Cortez Masto also forcing Kraninger to say she had no direct experience investigating or bringing legal actions against financial firms.
