What to expect from a Kraninger CFPB

What would Pete Townsend say? By a one vote margin, Kathy Kraninger was confirmed to be the next head of the CFPB. She takes the reigns from her former boss Mick Mulvaney. For what it’s worth, her selection means that the first two permanent directors of the bureau will be from Ohio.

She is now one of the most powerful people in America. She has a self-generating budget and, with no board to contend with, she can quickly and decisively move to both prosecute a wide range of businesses and shape the regulations they must abide by.

So what do we know about her at this point? Surprisingly little. To democrats she is an inexperienced bureaucrat who at the same time played a role in everything bad the Trump Administration has ever done. To republicans, she is a long time public servant whose experience as a congressional staffer and a high-ranking OMB official where she helped oversee funding for several agencies gives her the type of experience you need to run an agency in Washington. In addition, as a member of the Peace Corps her experience teaching in Russia taught her the dangers of over-regulated markets. The truth is no one knows for sure what to expect but a good place to start might be with her own words based on her written testimony before the Senate Bank Committee.

 

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