CONSUMER PROTECTION/NOMINATIONS/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The Senate narrowly confirmed Kathy Kraninger for a five-year term as the head of the CFPB, putting her in charge of an Obama-era agency that became a lightning rod for Republican attacks over its aggressive enforcement. Kraninger, nominated by President Donald Trump in June, was approved on a party-line 50-49 vote. The relatively unknown White House budget official, whose scant record on consumer finance and banking issues has confounded Democratic critics, will assume control of a regulator that looks markedly different from the one CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney took over in November 2017. Mulvaney muffled the agency, a Democratic favorite, during his tumultuous year-long tenure — freezing data collection for six months, dramatically reining in enforcement actions, reorganizing the student loan and fair lending offices, and installing political appointees to run the consumer bureau’s day- to-day operations.”
–Katy O’Donnell, “Senate confirms Trump nominee Kraninger to lead consumer bureau,’ Politico, December 6, 2018 2:42 pm