Senators Should Reject Trump CFPB Nominee Kraninger: “We Deserve a Consumer Champion”
“She has no record of consumer protection or with holding powerful Wall Street special interests accountable.” – Karl Frisch, Allied Progress
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tomorrow, at Kathy Kraninger’s confirmation hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, President Trump’s nominee for Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be grilled over her lack of experience on consumer protection and financial/banking regulatory issues as well as her long record of mismanagement on high-profile issues like the terrorist watch list and the Trump administrations immigrant family separation policy and its disastrous response to the crisis in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. In advance of the hearing, consumer advocacy organization Allied Progress issued the following statement:
“We deserve a consumer champion at the CFPB, not Kathy Kraninger. She has no record of consumer protection or with holding powerful Wall Street special interests accountable – key traits the American people expect in the nation’s chief consumer advocate,” said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress.
He continued, “Mick Mulvaney, the Trump administration, and their Senate allies have attempted to paint Ms. Kraninger as some sort of management guru who is ready to whip a supposedly out-of-control government agency into shape. As is often the case, their spin couldn’t be further from the truth. Kraninger’s record is questionable at best and it was the CFPB that whipped big banks, payday lenders, and financial scammers into shape and returned billions of dollars directly to tens of millions of Americans in the process.”
“The truth is, Kathy Kraninger’s career has been marked by far too many high-profile examples of mismanagement for her nomination to warrant serious consideration. Whether it was bungling the terrorist watch list during the Bush administration or her ties to Trump’s immigrant family separation policy or his disastrous response to the crisis in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, Kraninger’s abysmal record should not be rewarded with confirmation to such an important post,” he concluded.
Allied Progress is currently running television and digital ads that expose Kraninger’s problematic record and encourages Senators to oppose her confirmation. The group also ran a full-page ad in The New York Times on Wednesday and sent direct mail to thousands of influencers and officials. The television ads can be viewed here while the other elements can be viewed here.
Kraninger Record Highlights
- Zero Experience with Consumer Protection or Banking/Financial Regulation: No experience suitable for such an important job but has worked under Mick Mulvaney and is seen as a likely puppet to continue his assault on the CFPB and important consumer protections. [Bloomberg, 06/15/18.]
- Oversaw Trump Agencies Separating Immigrant Children from their Families: Helped craft budget increasing funding for immigrant detention facilities and was likely involved in policies leading to the separation of immigrant children from their families at the Southern border. [American Banker, 06/19/18; United States Government Manual, accessed 06/29/18; Office of Management and Budget, FY 2019; Center for American Progress, 02/16/18; “Budget-in-Brief: Fiscal Year 2019 – Homeland Security,” DHS.gov, accessed 06/21/18.]
- Oversaw Agencies Responsible for Disastrous Response to the crisis in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria: Oversaw agencies which led the disastrous response to the crisis in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. Experts have claimed that many people died after the hurricane because of the weak response and the island still lacks reliable power. [Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Conference, 2017 and Orlando Sentinel, 06/28/18; The Washington Post, 05/29/18; Vox, 06/02/18; The New York Times, 05/06/18; USA Today, 05/30/18.]
- Oversaw Inept Attempts to Fix Error-Riddled Terrorist Watch List: Responsible for fixing errors on the list but told Congress she couldn’t guarantee that she could remove someone like John Lewis, a civil rights icon and Congressman who was detained at the airport more than 30 times. [U.S. Department of State, 01/17/06 and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 09/20/06; Hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security, 11/08/07; CNN.com, 08/20/04.]
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