GOP Warming to Elizabeth Warren?

 

Yes, you read that right. Apparently some GOPers are rethinking their vehement opposition to Harvard law professor and bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren running the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. A short item in the Wall Street Journal‘s gossipy “Heard on the Street” column today says there are whispers that “some Republicans are warming to Ms. Warren as the first consumer financial-affairs regulator over another candidate, Treasury Department Assistant Secretary Michael Barr. The thinking: Ms. Warren isn’t shy about speaking her mind, so banks would know what was coming.” Whereas Barr, the Journal says, might be more likely to spring big regulatory surprises on the banks, something no banker—or Republican, presumably—wants.

In one regard, the GOP is right: Warren is clear and plain-spoken in her defense of consumers and their rights. (Read David Corn’s profile of Warren for more on that.) The consumer bureau, you’ll remember, is largely her idea, based on a 2007 article she penned in the journal Democracy calling for a new “Financial Product Safety Commission.” That commission would regulate mortgages, say, much like the existing Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates toasters.

As I reported last month, there’s also been considerable opposition in the banking sector to Warren leading the new, independent consumer bureau, which will be housed in the Federal Reserve. Multiple state banking association chiefs have lobbied Congress against her potential nomination. Those same chiefs suggested that the American Bankers Association, the top banking trade association, didn’t want her to run the bureau, either.

Here’s my quibble with the Journal‘s optimistic report: Unlike the anonymous GOPers the Journal refers to, the bankers I interviewed who oppose Warren, on the record, aren’t about to warm to her because she’s outspoken. They oppose her because they think she doesn’t understand the realities of running small community banks, the type sure to be impacted by the new consumer agency. Warren just doesn’t get it, these chiefs claim. (Warren, I’m sure, would disagree.)

Sure, it’s somewhat heartening for Warren supporters to hear Republicans might yet support her nomination. But don’t believe for a minute that her path to running the bureau is now wide open.

 

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In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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