The GOP tries, tries again

To kill Elizabeth Warren’s consumer watchdog agency:

In the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, Republicans don’t have the votes for their more ambitious bills, explains Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. “I think it would be most unlikely,” he says. “They’re trying to do death of a thousand cuts on the agency but… I don’t think it will get very far.”

Von Spakovsky agrees. “Having anything happen is going to depend on… the 2014 elections,” he says, “And whether Republicans can take over the Senate and drive through legislation to change this.” But even if Republicans take control of the Senate in 2014, Obama will still be in the White House—and he has threatened to veto bills aimed at weakening the agency.

A few bills affecting the CFPB have the potential to garner a little more Democratic support, says Baker. One, which is co-sponsored by Democrats Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.), and Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), would subject the agency’s operations to more judicial review. Another would require the CFPB to get consumer consent before collecting Americans’ financial data. But neither would kneecap the agency the way blocking Cordray would have.

Baker predicts that Senate Republicans may pipe down about the CFPB because there’s little they can do to damage the agency without gaining control of the Senate and the White House. “I don’t see this as enough of an issue for [Senate] Republicans to unanimously rally around,” he says. Republicans have pledged to keep fighting, but at least for now, Warren and the Democrats have won.