WASHINGTON — House Republicans are trying to put pressure on the three Democratic members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board of directors currently locked in a power struggle with FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, a senior Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, unveiled a bill Thursday that would strip the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of voting powers on the FDIC board. The FDIC Board Accountability Act would also introduce term limits for all board members.
The legislation comes amid a
The feud on the FDIC board spilled out into the open last week after Chopra, Gruenberg and Hsu used a notational vote process to claim they had approved a public request for comment on bank merger review policy without the consent of McWilliams.
“The recent actions of Director Chopra and Director Gruenberg illustrate that the FDIC Board of Directors is in serious need of reform,” Luetkemeyer said in a press release. All Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee signed on to the bill.
The bill would also limit individuals to two terms and a time limit of 12 years on the board.
Though the bill is a nonstarter with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, the measure is a sharp rebuke of Democrats’ recent moves to
As the conflict has developed, much of the Republican criticism has funneled toward Chopra, who is being accused of trying to steer the FDIC's policymaking.
The core focus of Luetkemeyer’s ire is the appearance of regulatory overreach from Chopra. “As I have repeatedly stated, as the Director of the CFPB, Mr. Chopra wields unchecked power over our economy,” the Missouri representative said. “In this position he should be focused on ensuring consumers are protected in our financial system, not interfering with safety and soundness requirements such as liquidity and capital for America’s financial institutions.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have accused McWilliams of unlawfully obstructing the will of the FDIC board’s 3-1 majority.
"Democrats accuse Republicans of supporting voter suppression in elections, and Luetkemeyer seems to be hoping to say, 'Yes, and we should extend that logic to independent agencies as well,' " said Jeff Hauser, director of the Revolving Door Project. "I think disempowering the perspective of the most senior executive in the government most focused on consumers at the FDIC is an appalling attack on consumer rights."
But the bill is also a clear broadside directed at Gruenberg, the FDIC’s longest-serving board member, whose tenure dates to 2005.
“Mr. Gruenberg first served on the Board during the George W. Bush-era and has been sitting on the Board for nearly twenty years, with no end to his tenure in sight. He has not been through the nomination or confirmation process since 2012,” Luetkemeyer said.
Luetkemeyer’s bill is only the latest congressional Republican counterattack against the FDIC’s Democratic board majority this week.
On Tuesday, House Republicans led by Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the ranking member of the committee, said they had launched an investigation into the Democrats' "power grab." They separately sent House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters a letter Tuesday requesting a hearing and asking her to join the investigation.
“To fully understand how the Director of the CFPB, Rohit Chopra, and an FDIC Director who has somehow served on the Board since 2005, Martin Gruenberg, coordinated an attempt to usurp the Chairman, we request you convene a hearing as soon as practicable,” the House Republicans wrote in the letter to Waters.
In a concurrent letter to Chopra, the House Republicans accused the CFPB director of behaving in a “reckless” manner and said it would be “necessary that you preserve all relevant documents and communications that may refer or relate to the actions in question, including those on official governmental accounts and/or personal, non-governmental accounts.”
