A vote on the president’s nomination of Kathleen (“Kathy”) Kraninger to a permanent post as director of the consumer financial protection bureau cleared a procedural step Thursday and is on track for a Senate vote that is expected to come next week.
The Senate voted Thursday to cut off debate on the nomination, 50-49 (with Republican Sen. James Inofe of Oklahoma not voting). The nomination is on a list of others awaiting action under a unanimous consent order. Under that order, a final vote could come as early as Dec. 4.
Kraninger was nominated June 20 by President Donald Trump to be the next director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP, formerly known as CFPB). That post is currently occupied in acting capacity by John (“Mick”) Mulvaney, who is also Kraninger’s current boss at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Kraninger testified on her nomination July 19 before the Senate Banking Committee, which cast a party-line vote (13 for, 12 against) the following month in reporting her nomination favorably to the full Senate.
Kraninger, expected to win confirmation, would be the first permanent director since Richard Cordray (who recently lost his bid for governor of Ohio) resigned from the bureau about a year ago.