McClatchy reports:
President Barack Obama leaped to the defense of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday as the embattled federal watchdog agency unveiled proposed federal regulations to rein in payday lending.
There's more:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created by the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010. The law granted the new agency oversight over mortgages, credit reporting, debt collection and payday loans, among other financial products and services.
The bureau’s budget is funded through the Federal Reserve, an arrangement that insulates it from the politically charged congressional appropriations process.
Republicans say the bureau is a prime example of the federal government run amok – overpaid bureaucrats who hurt the economy and job creation by entangling businesses in too much red tape. They want to hold the agency more accountable by subjecting it to congressional budget approval. They’ve also proposed changing the structure of the agency from a single directorship to a five-person politically appointed commission. Some want to dismantle it altogether.
Obama pledged Thursday to veto any bill that would threaten the bureau or any other Wall Street regulation efforts.
You'll notice the U.S. Constitution requires Congress to appropriate money for government agencies. Are there any other government agencies "progressives" want to fund by fiat money at the Fed?
