Thursday, September 16, 2010

Elizabeth Warren will helm new financial consumer protection group

Obama to name new consumer body chief
Wednesday September 15, 2010

US President Barack Obama plans to name Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren to set up a powerful new consumer protection bureau, but tailor her job designation to avoid a Senate confirmation battle.

A Democratic official said Warren, a well-known consumer advocate who has drawn Republican fire on Capitol Hill, will be an assistant to the president and special adviser to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

By avoiding naming Warren to actually head the new bureau, Obama retains her experience and skills as an advocate for consumers while sidestepping what was shaping up as a tough effort to get her confirmed by senators.

The move, expected to be made official within days, will end a long-running political saga over Warren, and the setting up of the bureau, part of the sweeping financial reform package passed by Obama earlier this year.

The official said that Warren's new position was permissible since the legislation tasked the Treasury with setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

She will report jointly to Obama and Geithner.

The bureau was set up to significantly curtail finance industry powers by protecting American consumers from hidden fees and deceptive lending practices by financial firms for services such as mortgages or credit cards.

Warren came up with the original idea of setting up the new body.

Republicans are likely to attack Obama for bypassing the Senate confirmation process.

But his move was welcomed by Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who votes with Democrats, who said Obama had chosen a "tough and brilliant" advocate to tackle "greed and recklessness" on Wall Street.

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