There’s a new Wall Street Sheriff in town. Her name is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and she’s President Obama’s pick to help set up (control) a brand new Big Government agency called the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. (Just so you know, this new agency was the brainchild of the corrupt Fannie and Freddie twins, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. The laughably named Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act effectively gives the federal government control of our nation’s financial sector. (Think of it as Obamacare for Wall Street, the stock market, and credit cards.)
Obama and his allies have been big promoters of Warren, who is the left-wing patron saint of so-called consumer protection.
There’s only one problem. In the dubious tradition of Obama czars, Warren is a leftist radical with a “penchant for provocative statements” and has very little chance of being confirmed by even a Democratic Senate. How anti-business? Well, in a blog she crafted for TPMCafe.com in 2005, Warren said: “…big corporate interests, led by the consumer finance industry, are devouring families and spitting out the bones.”
And that’s just one example.
Even Democrat Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, sees the writing on the wall on a Warren appointment. Dodd has publicly stated that he doubts Warren could muster the votes for confirmation. Many others in Congress agree, even if they won’t say it publicly.
So, how do you think this President plans to “move forward” with this appointment in light of a looming confirmation war? By ignoring the Senate confirmation process! The Obama White House had Warren post a propaganda item today announcing her appointment:
The President asked me, and I enthusiastically agreed, to serve as an Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He has also asked me to take on the job to get the new CFPB started–right now.
Warren goes on in her statement to push the socialist trope of “leveling the playing field” in the consumer credit market. Obama White House officials are spinning this as an “interim appointment.” But we all know the strategy: Get Warren in the back door, and have her put her stamp on the “creation” of this powerful new agency, while really running it. (Obama calls this an “interim appointment.” We call it a “czar.”) Indeed, Obama’s statement today about the Warren appointment shows that he is essentially giving her the keys to the kingdom of the new government agency.
But our Constitutional Professor-in-Chief needs to heed the Appointments Clause of the US Constitution (Article II, Section 2) states that “officers” of the United States must be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. As the Justice Department explained in 2007: A position is an office of the United States if it is “(1) invested by legal authority with a portion of the sovereign powers of the federal Government, and (2) it is ‘continuing.'” Such “sovereign powers” generally involve “binding the Government or third parties for the benefit of the public, such as by administering, executing, or authoritatively interpreting laws.”
It sure seems to me like Ms. Warren is set to act as an officer of the United States. Except her legal authority, since she’s unconfirmed by the U.S. Senate, is null. But, according to Businessweek, Warren will have a “$400 million budget and the power to impose federal rules on mortgages, credit cards, layaway plans and other consumer credit products.”
With this much money and this much power at Warren’s disposal, don’t you think her record ought to be thoroughly examined by Congress? We do. Most Americans do. And the Constitution certainly mandates it. But none of this is of concern to President Obama as he continues to preside over the massive and unprecedented expansion of federal government.
Even the Left has raised hackles about this lawlessness. The notoriously radical Internet site Daily Kos posted an article that highlights the legally dubious nature of Obama’s new czar appointment. The piece, by a supporter of Warren’s, suggests that Obama has no authority to install her.
Judicial Watch has an ongoing, thorough investigation of Obama’s czars. You can read all about it by clicking here. By our count, Obama has appointed 42 czars, with Warren’s appointment perhaps being the most striking example of Obama’s abuse of office, his contempt for Congress, and his disrespect for our republican form of government.
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