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Warren, Republicans Faceoff on Thursday

With less than two weeks to go before the ""Consumer Financial Protection Bureau"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ (CFPB) launches, ""Treasury Department"":http://www.treasury.gov/Pages/default.aspx adviser and nominee Elizabeth Warren plans to attend the ""House Oversight Committee"":http://oversight.house.gov/ for the last time on Thursday, giving her Republican opponents one final opportunity to lob critiques at her brainchild before it assumes consumer financial protection authority. And, by all appearances, GOP committee members don't mean to waste the committee time.

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""This hearing will give Professor Warren an opportunity to provide clear information ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô which has so far not been articulated in public statements, budget justification, FOIA responses, or previous congressional testimony ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô about how the administration intends to go about protecting consumers,"" ""_The Hill_"":http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/170559-gop-gets-one-last-shot-at-consumer-protection-bureau-before-it-opens reported a committee spokesperson as saying.

Despite past spats ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô most notably when committee member ""Rep. Patrick McHenry"":http://mchenry.house.gov/ (R-North Carolina) accused Warren of lying in May ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô a CFPB spokesperson says that Warren, recognizing the value of checks and balances, looks forward to the hearing, according to ""_The Hill_"":http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/170559-gop-gets-one-last-shot-at-consumer-protection-bureau-before-it-opens.

Asked what Warren should expect at her last hearing before the ""CFPB"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ launches on July 21, Richard Eskow, senior fellow at the left-leaning ""Campaign for America's Future"":http://www.ourfuture.org/, says that ""Warren is likely to face another verbal assault, as Republicans on the Committee attempt to out-do each other├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬ª by proving their bona fides as attack dogs"" for banks and campaign contributors.

He claims that the ""CFPB"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ ""has more checks on its authority than most agencies, yet they [the committee members] accuse it of being all-powerful.""

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With 44 Republicans making good on their vow to stonewall Warren's confirmation process, the ""CFPB"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ will open its doors on July 21 without a number of the powers opponents charge it will use to ride roughshod over the mortgage lending and servicing industries. Transfers of authority from seven agencies, including the ""Federal Reserve"":http://www.federalreserve.gov/, ""FDIC"":http://www.fdic.gov/, ""Office of the Comptroller for the Currency"":http://www.occ.treas.gov/, will transition rule-making and enforcement responsibility for 18 consumer financial protection laws and some 40 rules to the bureau ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô a concentration of regulatory authority that makes critics restless.

""This agency is absolutely going to be aggressive in trying to change the mortgage-servicing framework,"" says Mark Calabria, director of financial regulation studies at the conservative-leaning ""Cato Institute"":http://www.cato.org/. ""They have a tremendous amount of leeway"" in reinterpreting older statutes, which he fears will ""make the next financial crisis more likely than less.""

""University of Michigan"":http://www.umich.edu/ Professor Michael Barr, at one time a ""Treasury Department"":http://www.treasury.gov/Pages/default.aspx assistant secretary and someone described as a chief architect of Dodd-Frank, puts faith in the transfers and criticizes attempts by Congress to marginalize the ""CFPB"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ as ""misguided.""

""In the past we had a system that tried to hide the ball, a system based on tricks and traps ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô that's not good for investors or borrowers or for the country,"" says Barr. ""I don't think it makes sense to weaken the consumer bureau and I think it's part of a pattern on Capitol Hill that's forgetting the financial crisis we just went through and the harm it's causing for the country.""

""I think attempts by Republicans to bring the ""CFPB"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ into the appropriations process makes it more accountable,"" says Calabria. ""I don't think our attempt should be to insulate bureaucrats from the public. I think the agency and Dodd-Frank completely misunderstand the crisis, and if anything, the ""CFPB"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ will make the next financial crisis more likely than less.""

Seeming to agree, Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-California) wrote Warren a letter that signals no relief in the next round between Warren and House Republicans.

""I expect you to remain before the committee until all members of the committee have had all of their questions answered and thus ask that you clear your schedule for the full day of the hearing,"" ""_The Hill_"":http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/170559-gop-gets-one-last-shot-at-consumer-protection-bureau-before-it-opens reported Issa as saying.

As if in response, Warren's schedule is completely clear on Thursday, according to the ""CFPB's"":http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ Web site.

About Author: Ryan Schuette

Ryan Schuette is a journalist, cartoonist, and social entrepreneur with several years of experience in real-estate news, international reporting, and business management. He currently lives in the Washington, D.C., area, where he freelances for DS News and MReport.
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