Senate Likely to Consider Kraninger Nomination to CFPB After Thanksgiving

The Senate intends to vote after Thanksgiving on the nomination of Kathy Kraninger to become the director of the CFPB.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed a cloture petition Thursday—a move that indicates he intends to bring the nomination to the floor. That petition limits debate on Kraninger’s nomination and prevents a filibuster.

The move comes as speculation grows that Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, who also serves as acting CFPB director, is angling for a nomination as Secretary of Commerce.

There is widespread speculation that the current secretary, Wilbur Ross, may be leaving the administration. President Trump has expressed his unhappiness with Ross several times.

The Senate Banking Committee narrowly recommended in August that the Senate confirm Kraninger.

Credit unions have supported Kraninger, who has said she supports Mulvaney’s moves at the CFPB. Mulvaney is viewed as much friendlier to business than his predecessor, Richard Cordray, who had been nominated to the job by former President Barack Obama.

Democrats have blasted the choice, contending that the associate director of the Office of Management and Budget has no experience with consumer finance issues. They also raised questions about the role she may have played in the Trump Administration’s policy of separating children from families of undocumented immigrants.

At OMB, Kraninger works on Department of Homeland Security issues.

An aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), an advocate of strict enforcement at the CFPB, has said the senator will use every tool available to try to block Kraninger.