McConnell: Consumer agency head would be 'unelected czar'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to block the nomination of any person to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying the position would be an “unaccountable, unelected czar.”

Senate Republicans, led by the Kentuckian, last week blocked the nomination of Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, to head the new bureau.

Republicans have vociferously opposed the creation of the agency, called for by the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law. GOP members say the agency will have too much power and Congress too little oversight.

McConnell kept up that criticism on a Sunday appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”

The head of the bureau would have the power to “bring down the banking system, if he wanted,” the minority leader charged.

McConnell wants the administration to work with Congress to change plans for the controversial agency “so it is accountable.”

“This is about an unaccountable, unelected czar,” McConnell said, issuing his pledge to block any nominee for the agency’s top slot unless changes are made.

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