The CFPB must remain above the political fray to be able to effectively do its job, embattled Director Richard Cordray said Tuesday.
“It has to be something that has to be kept separate from partisan politics and big-money special interests that would quash it as much as they can,” Cordray said in a taped interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Cordray declined to discuss the current political fights over his agency.
However, he said, “The independence is worth fighting for.”
He said that having Donald Trump, an opponent of Dodd-Frank which created the CFPB, as president should not have an impact on the bureau, which he said should be permitted to continue its work unabated.
“We’re expected to work with other administrations, other points of view,” he said, later adding “My view is that our pace has to be steady and vigorous.
He declined to comment on congressional proposals to convert the agency into a commission or to subject it to the annual appropriations process.
“Those are above my pay grade,” he said, adding that, “It is up to Congress to decide those things.”
Republicans have said that since the bureau is not subject to appropriations and Cordray can only be fired by cause, the agency lacks proper accountability.
Cordray said that he must testify on Capitol Hill on a regular basis, must issue reports and that the Government Accountability Office and the agency’s Inspector General issue reports on the CFPB’s activities.
He also declined to discuss an appellate court decision that found that the agency’s structure was unconstitutional since Cordray can only be fired for cause.
The director said that Congress decided to give the CFPB that independence when it created the bureau in Dodd-Frank.
“I didn’t create the structure of the agency,” he said.
