A hearing on the nomination for the next – and permanent — director of the federal consumer financial protection agency has been set for Thursday by the Senate Banking Committee.
Kathleen “Kathy” Kraninger was nominated to be the director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP, formerly known as the CFPB) by President Donald Trump on June 20. If confirmed by the Senate, she would replace John “Mick” Mulvaney in leading the bureau; Mulvaney has been serving as acting director since November, when Trump appointed him to replace the Richard Cordray, who resigned.
The hearing for Kraninger comes on the heels this week of two other developments in the leadership of the bureau: the resignation Monday of Acting Deputy Director Leandra English (who also dropped her lawsuit challenging Mulvaney’s appointment); and the appointment the same day by Mulvaney of Brian Johnson to take English’s place for the number two position at the bureau.
Kraninger, 43, is now associate director for general government for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which Mulvaney also oversees as director. In that role, which she has held since March 2017, she “oversees budget development and execution for a number of executive branch agencies including the Departments of Commerce, Justice, Homeland Security (DHS), Housing and Urban Development, Transportation (DOT), and Treasury,” according to her biography. (BCFP is not listed in her bio among the agencies she oversees.)
Before joining OMB, she served as the clerk of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, the bio states, noting that committee “provides DHS with its $40 billion discretionary budget.” Other congressional staffing positions include those on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security as well as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
However, no executive experience in either running a federal agency or in administering a federal financial institution regulatory agency is listed in her bio. None of the government experience listed in her bio relates, directly, to financial institution supervision.
She is a 1997 magna cum laude graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., according to the bio. It also states she earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2007.
Nomination Hearing: Senate Banking Committee (Kathleen Kraninger)