Posts Tagged ‘elizabeth warren’

Publius

Senate Poll: Scott Brown Opens 9-Point Lead Over Elizabeth Warren

by Publius

Republican US Senator Scott Brown now has a 9-point lead over Elizabeth Warren, his likely Democratic opponent in the November election, a new poll has found.

The Suffolk University/7News poll, which was released late Thursday night, asked 600 likely voters across Massachusetts which candidate they would support in a head-to-head matchup, if the election was held today. The poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.

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Dr. Susan Berry

‘The People’s Seat’ May Be in Jeopardy, and What We Can Learn From It

by Dr. Susan Berry

Democratic activist and former member of the Obama administration, Elizabeth Warren, has opened up a seven-point lead against incumbent Republican, Sen. Scott Brown, in the 2012 Senate race in Massachusetts, according to a recent poll.

Sen. Brown, who portrayed himself as a guy who “drives a truck,” won a special election in January of 2010 to fill the Senate term of the late Ted Kennedy, becoming the first Republican senator from “blue” Massachusetts since 1972. Mr. Brown ran against Democrat Martha Coakley in a stunning, come-from-behind campaign. Sen. Brown’s victory inspired him to say, “Tonight, the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken. This Senate seat belongs to no one person, no one political party. … This is the people’s seat.”

The election of Scott Brown was significant in several ways. First, it broke the Democrats’ 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Second, it was the forerunner of the “shellacking” President Obama and the liberal Democrats experienced the following November when a group of conservative Republicans won back the House for their party and redefined the core principles and values of that party. Third, it legitimized the power of the grass roots Tea Party, which remains the primary thorn in the side of the president and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

With the support of the Tea Party and other conservatives across the country, Scott Brown was swept to victory. However, only a month after his historical election, he began distancing himself from the grass roots group, refraining from joining the Tea Party caucus, stressing, instead, his desire to be an “independent voter and thinker and focus on the very real issues and where we find commonality.”

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Publius

GOP Blocks Cordray Nomination to CFPB

by Publius

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Republicans have blocked President Barack Obama’s choice to head the consumer protection agency that was created after the 2008 financial meltdown.

His nominee, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, ran into near-solid opposition from Republicans.

As a result, Democrats couldn’t muster the 60 votes needed to move ahead on the nomination. Only one Republican joined Democrats in voting Cordray.

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John Berlau

Richard Cordray’s ‘Heroes’ Occupy Banks and Private Homes

by John Berlau

When asked about the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in October, Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren praised it to the hilt. “I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do,” she told the Daily Beast. Yet when pressed in November on the OWS adherents’ increasingly violent tactics, she told a Boston TV interviewer: “Everybody has to follow the law. There’s no exception on that.”

But Warren’s apparent disavowal of the tactics of OWS and like-minded community organizers may not be shared by Richard Cordray, President Obama’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that Warren designed. Cordray has long supported ESOP, formerly known as the East Side Organizing Project, an Ohio housing advocacy group that has distinguished itself by storming into banks and launching plastic “shark attacks” on the lawns of private homes. ESOP’s leaders brag about what they call their “organized hits” on banks and other targets, which have included the home of the late Congressman and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp.

As Ohio treasurer and attorney general, Cordray lobbied for state and federal funding for ESOP and publicly praised funders of the group as “the real heroes.” And in a highly unusual move for a nominee awaiting confirmation, Cordray returned to Ohio in October to be the keynote speaker at the group’s gala dinner.

Since his nomination in July to head the bureau created by the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law, Republicans have held fast against confirmation. But largely, they haven’t made Cordray’s state record an issue. They have focused instead on structural defects in the agency’s design, such as the massive new powers the bureau will have to ban financial products it deems “abusive” and its lack of accountability to Congress.

These criticisms are valid, but they may not be enough to hold Senate Republicans together without criticism of the nominee’s merits. Just before Thanksgiving, Scott Brown (R-Mass.), facing a tough reelection challenge from Warren, became the first GOPer to commit to voting for Cordray. The Democrat-controlled Senate plans to hold a vote on his confirmation this week, possibly as early as Tuesday. Human Events‘ Neil McCabe reports that in addition to Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, other GOP targets for Cordray supporters include Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Tennessee’s Bob Corker, and Cordray’s home state Senator Rob Portman of Ohio (though Portman seemed to reaffirm his opposition in a statement to Human Events last week).

But Cordray’s support of ESOP needs further scrutiny, particularly since as head of the bureau, he will have the power to help funnel federal support to ESOP and like-minded community organizers with virtually no oversight by Congress. And a report by Bloomberg News suggests that Cordray specifically blessed ESOP’s “organized hits” on banks and homes.

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Capitol Confidential

Will Brown and Portman Turn Consumer Protection Agency Over to #Occupy Crowd?

by Capitol Confidential

When Scott Brown upset the Massachusetts Democratic establishment by winning the Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for a generation, he ran as a Republican. This cycle, facing the “founder” of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Elizabeth Warren, he appears to be running away from conservative principles.

Brown’s most recent capitulation is his support for a floor vote for President Obama’s nominee for the uber-regulatory agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Brown’s announcement undercuts not only his Republican colleagues who are fighting to limit the power of this new government agency but of the principles of limited government he professes to support.

Unfortunately, Brown may not be alone. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) is purportedly seeking a deal with the White House to get fellow Ohioan Cordray confirmed despite ethical questions about his behavior as the state’s Attorney General. Insiders are always concerned about the Maine Senators and Alaskan Lisa Murkowski. If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, Portman, Collins, Snowe and Murkowski need to buck up and support their colleagues.

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Capitol Confidential

American Crossroads Ad Targets Warren, #OccupyWallStreet

by Capitol Confidential

This week, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS) targets Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren and her self-professed ties to the #Occupy movement in a new television ad running in the Boston, Springfield-Holyoke, and Providence, RI markets for a total buy of $596,000.

The ad, “Foundation,” can be viewed here:

Capitol Confidential

CFPB: The Bureau of Situational Social Justice

by Capitol Confidential

When Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was convinced by a retailing giant to enact legislation imposing price controls on credit card transactions he engineered a massive wealth transfer from credit card companies to retailers – a cost that would ultimately be borne by consumers.  Opponents of Durbin’s fee warned of the consequences of his actions including increased costs for consumers and elimination of credit card incentive programs.  As Milton Friedman said, “there is no free lunch.”

After the government imposed their fee cap, the marketplace responded predictably.  Banks, including Bank of America, raised fees on consumers in order to cover the cost imposed by the Durbin Amendment.  Caught with his tail between his legs, Durbin and his allies declared war on the banks.  In a letter to the newly codified Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Durbin accused banks of trying to “sneak fees past” consumer and “urge[d]” the CFPB to “swiftly require financial institutions to post on their websites a standardized, concise and consumer-friendly disclosure form that lists the fees and key terms associated with checking accounts.”

Whether Durbin is successful in fighting back remains to be seen but what we do know is we now have a government agency at the disposal of elected officials that will police marketplace policies, fee structures and pricing decisions.  If it’s not bad enough that the Bureau will make regulatory decisions based on the political whims of politicians, their own justification for regulations are worse.  Much worse.

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MRC TV

#OWS Pop Quiz, Part I: How Much Do The Protesters Know About What They’re Protesting?

by MRC TV

We at MRCTV were in New York City’s Zuccotti Park in late October, and one of the things we wanted to do was see how much the people protesting actually knew about…what they were protesting.

Shortly before we left, New York Magazine conducted an experiment called, “Are You Smarter than a Wall Street Protester?” in which they asked a series of questions to the brave soldiers in attendance.

Given the study was done with a pen and paper, Joe Schoffstall figured he’d ask questions and record it on video. In fact, the questions are almost exactly the same- so most of these people could have been polled by the magazine, having an advantage to this basic knowledge quiz.

Joe asked 6 questions to the protesters, in which we’re breaking down into 2 videos of 3 questions each for length reasons. The following questions are in this video (Part I):

1. What is the Dodd-Frank Act?

2. Who is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve?

3. Who is Elizabeth Warren?

Here are their responses:

The Answers:

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Capitol Confidential

The Perils of Government Regulations and Unintended Consequences

by Capitol Confidential

Washington public policy is replete with examples of government regulators thinking they know best, imposing new government rules that then exacerbate the existing problems. As things become worse, they blame the free market and call for more government regulations to fix the burdens they created.  Of course, just as it was the first time, the cure is worse than the disease. And the vicious cycle continues.

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren could be the poster child for the law of unintended consequences.  Warren’s career was built upon advocacy of government regulations that created bigger problems than those she initially addressed.  As the problems compound, so does her call for even more government red tape.

All of this mader her a hero to the progressive community, a Harvard professor, an advisor to the president and a creator of a new regulation-pushing agency of government known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  Maybe once, she will get something right but don’t hold your breath. The housing market collapse is a case in point.

In 1994, President Clinton and his cronies laid the groundwork for the creation of the Housing Bubble and the Wall Street crisis a decade later.  The Investors Business Daily uncovered a “smoking gun” memo that declared war on a near invisible enemy – racism is mortgage lending:

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Joel B. Pollak

Elizabeth Warren Gives Conservatives New Motivation to Get Behind Scott Brown’s Re-Election Bid in MA

by Joel B. Pollak

Elizabeth Warren might just be the motivation that conservatives need to get behind the re-election campaign of Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). Until now, the Tea Party activists that helped push Brown to an historic victory in 2010 had been grumbling about Brown’s leftish voting record. But Warren’s embrace of tax-and-spend policies, and her disregard for constitutional checks and balances, are giving conservatives new reasons to care.

I once admired Warren–and told her so. I was a student at Harvard Law School when she was plucked from her teaching job to serve as the congressional “oversight czar” for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In that role, Warren stood out for her unique willingness to criticize Obama administration appointees, notably treasury secretary Tim Geithner, for failing to comply with basic transparency and reporting requirements.


Warren had also been extremely popular among her students–so much so that our graduating class awarded her the Sacks-Freund Teaching Award in 2009, even though she hadn’t taught since the previous fall. I hadn’t had the privilege of being in one of her classes, but I congratulated her on the award, and told her that as a conservative, I felt she was speaking for me, too, in holding the Obama administration accountable.

But something seemed to change once she joined the administration. (more…)

Capitol Confidential

Elizabeth Warren’s Successor, ‘Pay to Play’ Cordray Seeks to #OccupyConsumerProtectionBureau

by Capitol Confidential

The #OccupyWallStreet movement has an agenda and has made it available for all to see.  Among their demands is that government eviscerate existing contracts by “eliminating all debt, everywhere.”  Imagine there was a government agency with the power to make decisions like that.  With a sleight of hand, one person could vitiate contracts and overturn years of business decisions, destroying marketplaces through government intervention.  You don’t have to imagine very long.  If President Obama and his progressive supporters get their way, the Director of the newly created regulatory agency called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will have similar powers.

Created by the flawed Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, the CFPB Director will be the most powerful regulator in government with little checks and balances from Congress.  President Obama said last week that if confirmed, the Director of the Bureau would be able to overturn any private market action it deems abusive.  Obama specifically cited the increase in debit card fees as an example of an area where the CFPB could take action to overturn the fee.

Let that sink in for a moment. A legitimate, legal business in America raises its prices by $5 and some bureaucrat would veto it, or worse, punish the business for raising its prices – in order to “make less profit,” as the president said.  This is the world Obama and the Democrats seek, a world in which an elite few are empowered to override the marketplace based on their own whims or, in this case, to mollify their voters.

No one likes bank fees, but in a market economy, you could take your money from one bank and move it to another. Avoiding this and keeping you happy is what keeps your bank in line. That’s how the market works, but that’s not good enough in Obama-world. On this fantasy island, the government singlehandedly keeps the electoral mobs happy through the utilization of a financial death squad. It’s government by organized mob.

This case becomes even more ridiculous when you consider the fact that the reason the banks are adding new fees is to cover the cost of a new federal price fixing law that took billions from banks and allocated it to giant retailers like Wal-Mart. And even more absurdly, the pricing fixing law that caused the fee increase is the very same law that created the agency that Obama wants to use to overturn the fee increase.

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Tom Fitton

Report: Obama’s Czars Are Seizing More Power

by Tom Fitton

President Obama speaks with former Energy Czar
(mentioned in our latest Judicial Watch Report) Carol Browner

Barack Obama has made a number of decisions during his tenure proving that he has little regard for the U.S. Constitution or the rule of law. At the top of the list is Obama’s penchant for installing radical leftists as czars in his administration without the constitutionally-mandated vetting and approval by the U.S. Senate.

These political appointees, called “czars,” are powerful and difficult to track. Nonetheless, Judicial Watch’s investigation team has taken on the important and exhaustive task of documenting these czar appointments (which number 45 according to our latest tally) and detailing the control these czars have over government operations.

Among the report’s findings are the following:

  • Czar appointees have seized unprecedented control over major aspects of government policy and programs. In some instances, unconfirmed czars have authority, in seeming violation of the U.S. Constitution, over certain Senate-confirmed officers.
  • A number of the czars have been linked to scandals, thefts and kickbacks, flagrant and offensive statements, conflicts of interest, and radical leftist political ideologies and policies.

Barack Obama’s unconstitutional use of czars to help run his administration is at odds with republican, limited, and accountable government. Obama has simply installed his allies in various positions of power while thumbing his nose at Congress and the American people.

As we document in this report, too many of these czars have proven to be corrupt or radical (or sometimes both). No wonder the Obama administration fights tooth-and-nail to allow these czars to operate in secret. Thankfully, our investigators managed to develop this comprehensive list of czars as part of our efforts to ensure government accountability. (Our report details 18 unfilled czar positions!)

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Capitol Confidential

Will Sen. Rob Portman ‘Pull a Stupak’ and Cave on New Consumer Czar?

by Capitol Confidential

In the pitched battle over whether government should take over our health care system, a group of pro-life Democrat congressmen held the line to oppose the legislation because they knew the bill authorized funding for abortion.  Under intense pressure from the president and their pro-choice comrades in the Congress, the group, led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) flip-flopped when they received a letter from the president ensuring that government would not spend money for abortion.  They were had.

Now Sen. Rob Portman appears ready to “pull a Stupak.”  Under pressure from Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, Portman appears ready to cut a deal to confirm former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to a five-year term to head the super-regulatory agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Word on Capitol Hill is that Portman has assured Cordray he has no problems with his nomination and is asking for assurances that his concerns about the Bureau will be address – not in legislation, but in a letter.  Has Portman learned anything from the Stupak incident?  Apparently not.

Unlike Portman, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) is taking a principled stand against the creation of a new super regulatory agency and is not shaking in his boots.  Shelby has organized his colleagues who have pledged to oppose the nomination of Cordray or any other nominee unless the Bureau is reformed.  Unlike Portman, apparently, Shelby is smart enough to demand real statutory changes as opposed to “promised” changes.

The CFPB was structured in a way to give huge, and perhaps unconstitutional, power to its Director.  Alan Raul, who served as general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget and associate counsel to President Ronald Reagan, described the CFPB’s power as “an independent agency on steroids because Congress essentially exempted the director from any meaningful accountability or strong presidential oversight.”

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Publius

Cordray Nomination: Ominous Signs in the Senate?

by Publius

Hopefully, it is not an ominous sign of things to come.

Last week, the Senate confirmed former Kentucky insurance regulator S. Roy Woodall for the one voting position on the federal Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) reserved for someone with insurance expertise. The term is for six years.  The FSOC is in charge of monitoring the financial system to guard against the failure of the largest bank holding companies and non-bank financial institutions.

For the past year, Republicans in the House and Senate have worked together to prevent the approval of numerous president appointments both through regular order and through the use of recess appointment authority.  By keeping the House from adjourning when vacation and breaks come, the president has been unable to exercise his power thus sparing the nation from another round of liberal appointments that can do great damage to the country.

Because the confirmation process is often one of compromise and deal making, some worry about the possibility of a deal involving Richard Cordray and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Especially in light of the fact that the Senate Banking Committee has called a vote on the Cordray confirmation itself this Thursday, October 6.   Sources in the nation’s Capitol have told Big Government that liberal Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is pressuring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) to break the logjam, as Cordray is from Ohio.

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Capitol Confidential

Elizabeth Warren May Be Gone, but the Agency She Built Lives On

by Capitol Confidential

If the American Left has a Joan of Arc, her name would be Elizabeth Warren.  The Harvard professor was the designer and creator of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the independent regulatory agency that was given the power to regulate every financial transaction in America without proper checks and balances from Congress.

The plan was for Warren to head the Bureau and conduct a reign of regulatory terror on the economy.  But even President Obama got cold feet.  Warren was too radical to be confirmed by the Democrat-controlled Senate.  So Warren picked her replacement, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, packed her bags back to Massachusetts and declared a run for the US Senate.

The arrogance of power and the ignorance of history may be the best way to describe Warren and the government agency she concocted.  The philosophy behind the Bureau is simple – the learned and intelligencia must control the marketplace in order to protect the simple-minded.

We were given a little insight into her philipsophy by a person who videotaped a recent campaign appearance.  In Warren’s worldview, your success is dictated not by your efforts to work hard or your ingenuity, but by the state.

Warren addressed the issue of class-warfare in a manner appropriate for the Harvard faculty lounge.

“I hear all this, you know, ‘Well, this is class warfare, this is whatever.’ No. There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own —nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police-forces and fire-forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory — and hire someone to protect against this — because of the work the rest of us did.

This arrogance extends beyond a philosophical debate.

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Dave Perkins

The Warren Omission

by Dave Perkins

Elizabeth Warren is Scott Brown’s worst nightmare.  She is a successful consumer advocate and think-tanker and has lurked around government for her entire life.  She is a champion debater from her school days and is passionate in her (leftist) beliefs.  And she will be running against Brown for the “Ted Kennedy seat” in Massachusetts.

She’s already campaigning, and last month made a speech in defense of the “underlying social contract”, a speech that has leftist hearts aflame from coast to coast.  Here is her relevant moment:

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.  Nobody.  You built a factory out there — good for you.  But I want to be clear.  You moved your goods to markets on the roads the rest of us paid for.  You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate.  You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.  You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory.  Now look.  You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea.  God bless!  Keep a big hunk of it.  But part of the underlying social contract is that you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

Ms. Warren is attempting to refute an argument that nobody is making.  No Republican, no tea partier, no conservative, argues for absence of government or zero taxes or an end to public services.  It’s a straw man, easy to knock down but absurd on its face.  And it’s ironic that her opponent, Senator Brown, is one of the least likely Republicans to make arguments against any government service or existing tax.  In any case, she has left out a LOT of information, and here is my report on the Warren Omission.

You built a factory…. you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for.”  Roads are primarily a state and county affair.  But on the level of federal funding, this applies; whenever tax money is sent to Washington, a huge chunk of it is skimmed for the expense of government (think 50%), and whatever is left is usually allocated based on politics.  It’s about favors owed, favors cultivated.  Federal funding for roads is doubtless the least efficient and most corrupt means of building them, and if that money were left in taxpayer pockets and instead collected by the states and counties for road construction, we’d have more and better roads very quickly, and at less cost to those taxpayers.   The states, after all, actually build them.  The federal government doesn’t send construction crews and truckloads of asphalt to each state.

And I remember, back in the 1970s, a dubious federal “enforcement” of the new 55 mph speed limit.  The federal government used its funding in an extortionate manner, telling states they were free to keep the speed limit at 70, but no federal highway funds would go to any state which did so.  They were Mafia tactics, used to abridge state’s rights indirectly, without confronting the states in court.

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Capitol Confidential

Bait and Switch: Don’t Fooled by Democrats Misdirection on CFPB Nominee

by Capitol Confidential

On September 6th, Senate Democrats will hold a confirmation hearing on Richard Cordray, President Obama’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)– a new regulation producing machine created by the Dodd-Franks bill. The Democrat Leadership in Senate is using the hearing to pressure the Republican Leadership to bow, allowing the liberal’s dream of a single agency that can regulate any financial transaction in America to become reality. Without your input and pressure, it might.

As we already know, the CFPB was designed to be a regulatory agency “one like we have not seen before,” according to Senator Chris Dodd. Originated by Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren, the CFPB is created to be a “one-stop” shop to regulate all consumer financial products in America – from mom-and-pop store layaway plans to mortgage loans and applications. The Bureau was given unprecedented regulatory powers with no checks and balances while the head of the CFPB is an unelected bureaucrat who can pick and choose what industry to regulate.

Obama’s first pick for this dictatorial position was anti-capitalism crusader Elizabeth Warren who was resoundingly rejected. No matter who the head of this agency becomes, it has too much unmitigated and unaccountable power.

That is why back In May, 44 of the 47 Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, sent a letter to Obama vowing to block any nominee to serve as director of the CFPB absent key changes, including eliminating the director’s position in favor of a board and forcing the agency to be dependent on Congressionally appropriated funds for its operating budget.

Democrats apparently believe that their problem the first time was that they had the wrong nominee to head the agency. So now, President Obama has nominated lesser known but every bit as liberal trial lawyer Richard Cordray to assume the position of dictatorial ruler over US businesses.

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Tom Fitton

New Docs Show Intervention by Controversial Federal Agency in Foreclosure Crisis Negotiation

by Tom Fitton

Many conservatives and even some liberals have complained about Obama’s penchant for appointing “czars” in order to avoid accountability under law. One of his most notorious is the Consumer Czar, Elizabeth Warren, who was appointed by Obama to help set up and, many fear, to eventually run the monstrous new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

We recently uncovered documents indicating the CFPB has been intensely involved in a 50-state settlement discussion underway with the nation’s largest mortgage lenders regarding alleged improper foreclosure procedures. (Anti-business zealots in the Obama administration and state attorney general offices are trying to extract a $20 billion “settlement” from banks to settle paperwork issues related to foreclosures.)

The documents, obtained in response to open records requests with CFPB and the offices of attorneys general from all 50 states, seem to contradict Warren’s statements before Congress suggesting her office merely responded to requests for advice, but did not seek to push its views. (We initiated our investigation into the controversies surrounding Ms. Warren and the CFPB on March 22, 2011.)

During a March 16, 2011, hearing of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, Ms. Warren downplayed her agency’s involvement in the state settlement negotiations: “We have been asked for advice by the Department of Justice, by the Secretary of the Treasury, and by other federal agencies. And when asked for advice, we have given our advice.”

But this does not come close to telling the full story.

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Tom Fitton

Constitutional Government Under Assault with New Consumer Czar

by Tom Fitton

There’s a new Wall Street Sheriff in town. Her name is Elizabeth Warren and she’s President Obama’s pick to help set up (control) a brand new Big Government agency called the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. (Just so you know, this new agency was the brainchild of the corrupt Fannie and Freddie twins, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. The laughably named Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act effectively gives the federal government control of our nation’s financial sector. (Think of it as Obamacare for Wall Street, the stock market, and credit cards.)

elizabeth-warren1

Obama and his allies have been big promoters of Warren, who is the left-wing patron saint of so-called consumer protection.

There’s only one problem. In the dubious tradition of Obama czars, Warren is a leftist radical with a “penchant for provocative statements” and has very little chance of being confirmed by even a Democratic Senate. How anti-business? Well, in a blog she crafted for TPMCafe.com in 2005, Warren said: “…big corporate interests, led by the consumer finance industry, are devouring families and spitting out the bones.”

And that’s just one example.

Even Democrat Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, sees the writing on the wall on a Warren appointment. Dodd has publicly stated that he doubts Warren could muster the votes for confirmation. Many others in Congress agree, even if they won’t say it publicly.

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LaborUnionReport

Why Are Unions Pushing so Hard for Elizabeth Warren as Consumer Protection Czar?

by LaborUnionReport

These days, any time unions go all out to push anything, you can bet there’s a hidden agenda.  Take for example the newly enacted “financial reform legislation” that gives unions the ability (through their pension funds) to put union activists onto the boards of publicly-held companies.

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Under the recently signed financial reform legislation, there is also a newly created Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and, lo and behold, it will be headed by another presidential appointee (read “czar”).

Yes, the President gets to hand pick another czar, which is what makes the fact that the SEIU and AFL-CIO are lobbying hard for a lefty named Elizabeth Warren so interesting.

The labor community is going to lend its considerable political clout to the effort to get Elizabeth Warren confirmed as the first head of the newly-created Consumer Protection Agency, going directly to the White House official who may stand in her way.

On Tuesday, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry will “raise the point that Elizabeth Warren would be an excellent head of the newly created Consumer Protection Agency” in private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, according to a senior source with the union.

The AFL-CIO’s Richard “the Fifth” Trumka has also weighed in on Ms. Warren:

In our view, there is only one candidate who is uniquely qualified and equipped to head this new agency. Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren originated the idea of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and has proven as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel to be a strong and fearless advocate for the American public.

Apparently, though, Ms. Warren is getting some opposition from Treasury Secretary Geithner (as well as the bill’s co-sponsor Chris Dodd) even though the agency was her idea to begin with.

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