Since the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2011, which the financial services industry fought to prevent, Republicans in the House and in the Senate have said it is an intrusion of government into the market. If the Republicans take control of the Senate in the upcoming election, which polls in several swing states say could very well happen, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) may head the Senate Banking Committee. While he has taken a hard line against the agency, MHProNews understands the Republican majority in the Senate would be slim, and Sen. Shelby may only attempt to institute reforms in order to gain Democratic help, rather than try to make massive changes. Additionally, he would be up against CFPB engineer Elizabeth Warren, now a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, and also on the Senate Banking Committee, says the washingtonexaminer.

Brandon Barford, of the policy research firm Beacon Policy Advisors who once worked for Senator Shelby, says limiting the agency’s funding would be near impossible without a veto-proof Senate majority.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), House Financial Services Committee Chairman, who calls the CFPB “the single most unaccountable agency in the history of America,” has led a series of hostile oversight hearings, and continues to seek to curb the agency’s authority. He wants to replace the single director, Richard Cordray, with a five member board, take funding oversight away from the Federal Reserve and put it in the hands of Congress, and limit its overall authority.

Ruth Susswein, a consumer advocate with Consumer Action, says in a July, 2014 poll conducted by Lake Research Partners, three-quarters of the voters favor the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Representing financial companies in their dealings with the CFPB, Alan Kaplinsky, the head of Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group, predicts the Senate will hold a series of oversight hearings, and it will be “good political theater.”

With the November 4th mid-terms right around the corner, the future of how finance will be done in America in the next few years clearly hangs in the balance.  Early voting returns in some states suggest the Republicans are well positioned, but polling in some battle ground -states such as GA or KS – suggest a dead heat. ##

(Image credit: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)

(Submitted by Matthew J. Silver to Daily Business News-MHProNews)