Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Maxine Waters, along with consumer-rights groups are angry over President Donald Trump's decision to appoint White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney as acting director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying the move goes against the law.
"The Dodd-Frank Act is clear: if there is a @CFPB Director vacancy, the Deputy Director becomes Acting Director. @realDonaldTrump can’t override that," Warren, of Massachusetts, who had served as the bureau's architect, tweeted Saturday.
On Friday, Trump nominated Mulvaney to serve as the acting director following the resignation of Director Richard Cordray, who had announced, just before his resignation that he was promoting Leandra English to deputy director, the person who would lead the CFPB until the Senate swears in a permanent leader.
"[Trump] can nominate the next @CFPB Director - but until that nominee is confirmed by the Senate, Leandra English is the Acting Director under the Dodd-Frank Act," Warren added in another tweet.
Waters, of California, who serves as the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement that Mulvaney is an "unacceptable candidate to lead the Consumer Bureau," reports The Hill.
"[Mulvaney] has not only expressed noxious views about the important work that the Consumer Bureau does to protect hardworking Americans, he has also worked to destroy it," she added.
Mulvaney, while as a congressman, sponsored several bills in hopes of eliminating the CFPB, while backing other legislation to keep it under legislative oversight.
Waters also said she objects to Mulvaney performing a dual role, as he'll remain director of the Office of Management and Budget.
She's also concerned about his positions on the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Financial Stability Oversight Council, saying that doing so while heading the CFPB will give the White House "an alarming degree of direct control over financial regulation, supervision, and enforcement."
Other groups affiliated with the CFPB say Mulvaney should not have been appointed.
"In an attempt to install a wrecking ball at the helm of the consumer watchdog, President Trump has ignored the law that dictates that the consumer bureau’s deputy director takes over until Congress can confirm a new director," said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center, a nonprofit organization focusing on consumer rights.
She also called the appointment an "illegal affront to the American public," reports The Hill.
Center for Responsible Lending President Mike Calhoun also called the appointment "unlawful."
"Leandra English is the rightful Acting Director of the Bureau," he said. "Naming Mick Mulvaney — someone who’s adamantly anti-consumer — rewards financial predators and fails to put consumers first."
The White House, though, is defending the appointment, saying the Federal Vacancies Act allows the president to override the line of succession to head the CFPB.
"The Vacancies Act is also there as a way that the president can supersede the way those agency statutes work," a White House official said.