by Jeff Sovern
I don't often agree with J.W. Verret of George Mason, who formerly served as chief economist and counsel to Jeb Hensarling's House Financial Services Committee. But his warnings on CFPB director-nominee Kathy Kraninger deserve attention. Now he has written an op-ed for the National Review, Kathy Kraninger Is the Wrong Choice to Lead the CFPB. An excerpt:
Kraninger’s first exposure to most of the rules promulgated by the CFPB will, by all appearances, come during preparation for her confirmation hearings. Law students currently doing summer clerkships at the CFPB will have more experience with consumer-credit regulation than the nominee to lead the bureau.
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Administration supporters have begun to imply that opposition to Kraninger is a matter of her gender, as Bush’s backers once implied that Miers’s critics disapproved of a woman serving on the Supreme Court. But President Trump has successfully appointed highly qualified women to other financial-regulatory roles, like Chair McWilliams at the FDIC and Commissioner Peirce at the SEC. Playing the gender card simply won’t fly when Kraninger is so thoroughly unqualified to lead the CFPB.
