Consumers screwed again

August 24, 2018August 23, 2018 ~ susie

Like 99% of what Trump does, this will cause real harm to ordinary people. Via the LA Times:

Kathy Kraninger is a step closer to becoming the nation’s top consumer financial watchdog: A Senate committee on Thursday narrowly approved the White House aide’s nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau despite strenuous objections from Democrats that she’s not qualified for the job.

Opponents of President Trump’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said that she has no experience in consumer protection, financial regulation or the banking industry and questioned her involvement overseeing the budgets of agencies that developed and implemented the child-separation policy at the border and the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Democrats complained that Kraninger would not detail her role in those policies during her confirmation hearing or in written questions.
“She is refusing to describe her role in two very public management failures because she knows it would destroy her case for her nomination,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said.

But Republicans brushed off those concerns. All 13 of them voted to confirm Kraninger on Thursday, while all 12 Democrats opposed her nomination. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said Thursday that she had “significant leadership experience at federal agencies and on Capitol Hill.” He said her “her depth and diversity of public service experience” gave him “confidence she is well prepared to lead the bureau.”

You pay, you play

April 26, 2018April 25, 2018 ~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Morning Joe regulars discuss Trump’s continuing problems with his cabinet officials and appointees.

“Joe, the bad headlines for members of President Trump’s cabinet continue to mount with interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney, now in the spotlight. Did you hear this? According to the New York Times, he says it out loud,” Willie Geist said.

“Mulvaney, who also runs the White House budget office, told banking industry executives at a conference yesterday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda. The Times says he also revealed that as a congressman, he would meet only with lobbyists if they had contributed to his campaign, telling the crowd, quote, this is a quote, ‘If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.’

“In response, Mulvaney’s spokesman told the New York Times’ Glen Thrush that remarks to bankers were a general call to citizens to advocate in whatever way they choose, and that Mulvaney’s top priorities as a congressman was listening to constituents, for free, and that the part on lobbyists was meant to underscore that point.

“Joe, sometimes these things are implied, they’re done behind close the doors. But let me read the quote again from Mick Mulvaney: ‘If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I never talked to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave me money, I might talk to you.'”

Scarborough described the way donors were handled in his congressional office, and then brought Steve Israel into the conversation.

“I totally agree with you, Joe,” Israel said.

“Look, this may have been the one true statement that a Trump appointee has ever made. on this, I think there’s no fake news. he made the statement.”

Israel predicted the clip would be used in this year’s mid-term elections.

They’re coming after entitlements

May 2, 2017May 1, 2017 ~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Which is what you’d expect when you put a raving teabagger in charge of the budget, of course:

HARWOOD: I’ve had interviews with Republicans from Paul Ryan to John Thune who have been making the case that “we are going to persuade the president that we have to do something about entitlements.” How are you going to manage that?

MULVANEY: We’re working on it right now. He went through the list and said, “No, that’s Social Security. That violates my promise. Take that off. That’s Medicare. That violates my promise. Take that off.”

HARWOOD: Is Social Security Disability on that list?

MULVANEY: I don’t think we’ve settled yet. But I continue to look forward to talking to the president about ways to fix that program. Because that is one of the fastest growing programs that we have. It’s become effectively a long-term unemployment, permanent unemployment program.

Sure, Mick. Just assume that anyone who made it through the onerous disability screening did it for shits and giggles!

HARWOOD: You are saying to all of those people like Ryan, other Republicans, the Freedom Caucus in the House, “Do not think we are ever going to go after main Medicare and main Social Security throughout Donald Trump’s presidency”?

MULVANEY: No. I think the message to the House and Senate is, “Look, you go do what you think is best.” And I voted for Medicare premium support in the past when it was part of the Ryan budget. My guess is the House will do either that or something similar to that.

HARWOOD: Because of his pledge, President Trump would veto it?

MULVANEY: That’s not a really conducive way to sort of maintain a relationship between the executive and the administrative branch. Let them pass that and let’s talk about it.