The Senate voted 50-48 Thursday to confirm Rohit Chopra as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ending a long-running effort to appoint a new director at the agency that Congress created as a result of the financial crisis of more than a decade. since.
The confirmation marks a return to the agency for Chopra, who oversaw CFPB’s student loan work first as deputy director and then as the first student loan mediator from 2010 to 2015. This ends the Chopra’s tenure as a member of the Federal Trade Commission. .
Democrats and consumer advocates applauded Chopra’s confirmation, setting an agenda for the CFPB that includes improving student loan service and credit reporting accuracy and a crackdown on high-cost online lenders.
In a speech on the ground that addressed the stagnation of wages; rising costs for health care, child care and education; and “Made in the USA” labels, Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Chopra would be a voice for the forgotten in Washington.
“It’s no surprise that most people believe there is no one on their side fighting for them in the federal government, but we know that’s not true,” Brown said. “That’s why Rohit Chopra will prove them wrong. He will fight for all those who feel abandoned to themselves. “
