Republicans press for greater oversight The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has an avowed socialist on one of its advisory boards — a revelation that has some conservatives fuming, saying it's an additional reason why Congress must impose more transparency on the powerful bureau.
After a congressional Republican was denied entry into an advisory committee's meetings in February, he filed legislation demanding that the bureau abide by all open-government rules that apply to other commissions.
On Tuesday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, proposed stripping the bureau of its independent funding and bringing it under strict congressional oversight.
The moves underscore how the relatively new bureau has become a flashpoint in the battle over the size and scope of the federal government and its web of regulations.
Mark Calabria, director of Financial Regulation Studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, said the appointment of Ron Ehrenreich to a position on the bureau's Credit Union Advisory Council raises red flags. Mr. Ehrenreich is CEO and co-founder of the Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union and 1988 vice presidential candidate for the Socialist Party USA.
Mr. Calabria said there should not be a political litmus test for advisory board members but that Mr. Ehrenreich's involvement on a board is symbolic of a larger concern that the "CFPB has gone out of its way to invite and have people on its advisory boards that echo its own viewpoints."
"It would be great to have a broader range of people actually represented," Mr. Calabria said. "So, to me, I think it really speaks to very deep-seated groupthink over there that consumers are being exploited and markets are bad, and if you don't have lots of government regulations and lawyers then people are going to be taken advantage of."
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