As we have reported in the past, the Dodd-Frank Act requires that the CFPB’s director “shall appear before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives at semi-annual hearings.” But it appears that Acting Director Vought has not done so, despite leading the CFPB for about a year at this point. In other words, Vought should already have appeared at least twice. What makes this even more startling is that Vought has complained about the CFPB’s lack of accountability, and yet now that he is in control, he is flouting a congressional command that provided accountability. Do congressional leaders care about this? Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott charged that the CFPB “is unaccountable to Congress“–but that was during the Biden administration. House Financial Services Chair French Hill has called the CFPB “arguably the least accountable government agency.” You might expect that if leaders of the relevant congressional cared about accountability, they would seek to have Vought testify. Yet I am not aware of any calls from Hill or Scott for Vought to testify before their respective committees. It’s almost as if accountability was just a pretext for opposing the Bureau. And to those who think this is too far down the list to care about, do you also believe in the broken windows theory?
