Wall Street Darling Jeb Hensarling’s Old Crew Taking Over the CFPB
Hensarling’s Former Chief of Staff Joins Bureau That Oversees Industry Hensarling Spent Career Trying to Deregulate
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a telling sign of her priorities, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger is continuing to surround herself with former aides of Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), the former Chair of the House Financial Services Committee who devoted his career to serving the financial industry and who once declared that the CFPB “must be functionally terminated.” The Trump/Kraninger-run CFPB announced late Friday that Hensarling’s Ex-Chief of Staff has joined the Bureau’s “senior leadership.”
“If Kathy Kraninger were really interested in carrying out CFPB’s mission of protecting consumers, she wouldn’t be going back to the Hensarling well again and again to fill her leadership team,”said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Allied Progress. “No one had a bigger reputation in Congress of doing the dirty work of big banks and predatory lenders than Jeb Hensarling, and few took more industry campaign cash. And yet for some reason, people who worked for Hensarling bring the right kind of experience that Kraninger is looking for at the CFPB. It’s particularly concerning that someone who served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Hensarling as he tried to “functionally terminate” the CFPB is now making decisions on behalf of consumers at that very agency. Any hope that Kathy Kraninger would right the ship after Mick Mulvaney let Wall Street write all its own rules have all but vanished.”
What You Need To Know:
Numerous Top Officials At Kathy Kraninger’s CFPB Previously Worked With Jeb Hensarling To Support His Anti-Consumer Crusades in Congress
The CFPB’s Top Ranks Are Stocked With An Army Of Jeb Hensarling’s Anti-CFPB Foot Soldiers.
Former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) Has Consistently Been One Of The CFPB’s Harshest Critics.
Jeb Hensarling Wrote That The CFPB “‘Must Be Functionally Terminated.’“ “Like other Republicans, Hensarling wants Trump to immediately fire CFPB Director Richard Cordray. Such a move could set up a court fight because Dodd-Frank only allows the president to fire the head of the CFPB ‘for cause.’ Hensarling has proposed legislation that would repeal the CFPB entirely and echoed that goal in his op-ed, saying the agency ‘must be functionally terminated.’” [Matt Egan, “GOP declares all-out war on Elizabeth Warren’s agency”, CNN Money, 02/09/17]
- Hensarling Also Feels That The Powers Given To Regulators Under Dodd-Frank Are “More Appropriate For A Soviet-Style Command-And-Control Economy Than A System Of Free Enterprise.”In a 2014 speech on the House Floor, Jeb Hensarling said, “Dodd-Frank is every bit as far-reaching in its harmful consequences for the American economy as Obamacare. Dodd-Frank grants sweeping powers to regulators more appropriate for a Soviet-style command-and-control economy than a system of free enterprise.” [“Hensarling: Dodd-Frank Results in Less Freedom, Less Opportunity and a Less Dynamic Economy,”House Financial Services Committee, 07/16/14]
- Hensarling Even Described The CFPB As “Positively Orwellian.” “Hensarling also reiterated his concerns over the scope of the CFPB. ‘How you can take away the fundamental economic liberties of Americans and give unfettered subjective powers to one unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat to fundamentally decide what credit cards go in our wallets, what mortgages you can have is positively Orwellian,’ he said. ‘Unless we reform this institution, consumer credit will be effectively trashed. The cost of it will go up, and there will be less of it.’” [Victoria Finkle, “Hensarling Blasts Dodd-Frank, CFPB,” American Banker, 09/13/12]
Andrew Duke, The CFPB’s Incoming Policy Associate Director For External Affairs, Has Been Jeb Hensarling’s Chief Of Staff Since 2011.
“Andrew Duke Will Serve As The Policy Associate Director For External Affairs.”[Press Release, CFPB, 01/25/19]
- Andrew Duke was Chief of Staff for Congressman Jeb Hensarling Since January 2011. [LinkedIn Profile for Andrew Duke, accessed 01/28/19]
Incoming Acting Chief Communications Officer Marisol Garibay Previously Worked For Jeb Hensarling When He Was Vice Chairman Of The House Financial Services Committee
“Marisol Garibay Will Serve As The Acting Chief Communications Officer.”[Press Release, CFPB, 01/25/19]
Marisol Garibay Was The House Financial Services Committee’s Communications Director From June 2008 To December 2012 And Its Assistant Communications Director From January 2005 To August 2007. [LinkedIn Profile for Marisol Garibay, accessed 01/29/18]
- Jeb Hensarling Was Vice Chairman of The House Financial Services Committee Under Spencer Bachus From 2011 To 2012. [“United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services,” Ballotpedia, accessed 01/28/19]
- Marisol Garibay “Provided Republican Members With Communications And Messaging Advice On […] The Dodd-Frank Act.” “Previously, Marisol served as Communications Director for the House Financial Services Committee. During her four years as the Committee’s Communications Director she provided Republican Members with communications and messaging advice on policy topics ranging from the Dodd-Frank Act, housing finance reform, capital formation, CFIUS, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Marisol developed various strategic communications plans to help advance the policy goals of the Committee’s leadership.” [LinkedIn Profile for Marisol Garibay, accessed 01/29/18]
Brian Johnson, The CFPB’s Acting Deputy Director, Was A Top Aide To Jeb Hensarling.
Brian Johnson Is The Acting Deputy Director Of The CFPB. [“Acting Deputy Director Brian Johnson,” CFPB, accessed 01/29/19]
- “Brian Johnson, a former aide to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), comes in. Johnson was named the CFPB’s acting deputy director July 9 following a seven-month stint as senior adviser to acting Director Mick Mulvaney.” [Evan Weinberger, “Mulvaney’s ‘Indispensable’ Aide Could Guide CFPB’s New Chief,” Bloomberg, 08/06/18]
Kirsten Sutton Mork, The CFPB’s Chief Of Staff, Was Staff Director For The House Financial Services Committee Under Jeb Hensarling.
Kirsten Sutton Mork Is Currently The Chief Of Staff For The CFPB.[LinkedIn Profile for Kirsten Sutton, accessed 01/28/19]
- Kirsten Sutton Mork was a Staff Director from February 2017 to January 2018 and Deputy Staff Director from January 2013 to January 2017 for the House Financial Services Committee. [LinkedIn Profile for Kirsten Sutton, accessed 01/28/19]
Jeb Hensarling Took Nearly $8 Million Dollars From The Financial Services Industry Throughout His Career
Jeb Hensarling Took Over $7.9 Million From Financial Interests Throughout His Career
Jeb Hensarling Took $7,901,898 From The Finance, Insurance & Real Estate Industries Throughout His Career.[Jeb Hensarling Top Industries 2001 – 2018, OpenSercrets.org, accessed 01/28/19]
Jeb Hensarling Was At The Forefront Of Deregulation – From Trying To Repeal Dodd-Frank, To Fighting The CFPB, And Backing Payday Lenders
The Financial Choice Act, A Major Effort To Undo Dodd-Frank Consumer Protections, Was Jeb Hensarling’s “Brainchild”
Jeb Hensarling’s “Brainchild,” The Financial Choice Act, Sought To Repeal Dodd-Frank Regulations. “House Republicans voted […] to deliver on their promise to repeal Dodd-Frank — the massive set of Wall Street regulations President Barack Obama signed into law after the 2008 financial crisis. In a near party-line vote, the House approved a bill, dubbed the Financial Choice Act, which scales back or eliminates many of the post-crisis banking rules. The legislation is the brainchild of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. ‘Dodd-Frank represents the greatest regulatory burden on our economy, more so than all the other Obama-era regulations combined,’ Hensarling told reporters Wednesday. ‘There is a better way: economic growth for all; bank bailouts for none.’” [Geoff Bennett, “House Passes Bill Aimed At Reversing Dodd-Frank Financial Regulations,” NPR, 06/08/17]
Jeb Hensarling Likened The CFPB To “A Tyranny” Led By A “Dictator.”
Hensarling Has Called The Efforts To Erect CFPB As “‘Efforts To Set Up A Tyranny’” And A “‘Benevolent Dictator.’” Hensarling has “[…] worked up efforts to change the funding mechanism for the agency that was founded in 2011, oust its largely independent director or dispense with the bureau altogether. And he has little patience for Democrats who see those moves as nothing short of a wet kiss to big banks. ‘What the Democrats were trying to do, for all intents and purposes, was set up a tyranny,’ he said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. ‘The left essentially wants a benevolent dictator. … It is frankly an affront to basic American tenets of democracy.’” [Tom Benning, “Dallas lawmaker accuses Democrats of pushing ‘tyranny’ in fight over consumer protection bureau,” The Dallas Morning News, 02/20/17]
Jeb Hensarling Defended Payday Lenders As He Fought To Repeal The CFPB’s Payday Lending Rule.
Jeb Hensarling Helped Lead The Charge On Legislation To Repeal The CFPB’s Payday Lending Rule. “A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Friday introduced legislation to repeal a rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau imposing new restrictions on small-dollar loans. […] While the rule was designed to curb high-cost lending to cash-strapped consumers, critics including House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, have argued that it restricts access to credit for those who need it. ‘Once again we see powerful Washington elites using the guise of ‘consumer protection’ to actually harm consumers and make life harder for lower and moderate income Americans who may need a short-term loan to keep their utilities from being cut off or to keep their car on the road so they can get to work,’ Hensarling said in a committee press release announcing the Congressional Review Act legislation.” [Kristin Broughton, “House lawmakers introduce bipartisan bill to overturn CFPB’s payday rule,” American Banker, 12/01/17]
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