Richard Cordray's Appointment To CFPB 'Would Help' Occupy Wall Street: Administration Official

[cal04]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/occupy-wall-street-richard-cordray-cfpb_n_1074657.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008

The Obama administration has been careful in its handling of the Occupy Wall Street movement, expressing sympathy with the sentiment behind it but never going so far as to formally endorse it. But on financial regulatory and consumer protection issues, there is a clear -- and inviting -- overlap between politics and the protests.

On Thursday, top members of the Obama administration's communications and economic team held a conference call designed to put pressure on Senate Republicans to confirm Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The call highlighted testimony from the CFPB's head of Servicemember Affairs Holly Petraeus, wife of general David Petraeus, in which she argued that an understaffed CFPB left family members of veterans vulnerable to predatory payday lenders and debt collectors.

At one point during the call, the question was raised: to what extent has the Occupy Wall Street movement affected the politics of Cordray's stalled nomination?

(snip)
"The sentiments that lots of people who are out there as part of 'Occupy Wall Street' have -- not just on Wall Street but on Main Streets across the country -- those sentiments are shared by lots of Americans," she added. "Having Richard Cordray in place obviously would help them."
(Deputy Senior Advisor to the President Stephanie Cutter)