Bloomberg Reports: Obama Eliminates Elizabeth Warren

By Mike Dorning and Carter Dougherty, Bloomberg News

16 July 11

Bloomberg is reporting that President Obama has eliminated Elizabeth Warren as a candidate to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The story has not been confirmed by the White House. The sources are "persons" and the information at this writing has not been verified. Due to the gravity of the confirmation decision, and our readers' interest in the story, we have decided to publish the article while we wait for further confirmation. -- CW/RSN

resident Barack Obama has chosen a candidate other than Elizabeth Warren as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The president's choice is a person who already works at the consumer agency, the person said today. Obama may make the nomination as soon as next week, another person briefed on the administration's plans said.

The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process isn't public, didn't give the name of the choice.

Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard professor, was appointed last fall by Obama to set up the consumer bureau until a director was named. Warren previously was head of the congressional watchdog panel overseeing the bank bailout.

Raj Date, a top deputy to Warren at the consumer bureau, was on a short list of candidates to become director, Bloomberg News reported last month, citing a person briefed on the process.

The consumer bureau, which is to begin formal operations on July 21, was established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-regulatory overhaul to fill what lawmakers said was a gap in oversight of products whose abuse contributed to the 2008 credit crisis, including mortgages and credit cards.

The bureau's director requires confirmation by the Senate. After 44 Republican senators announced in May that they wouldn't vote to approve any candidate to run the bureau without changes in its structure, analysts said the White House might have to resort to a temporary appointment during a congressional recess. Sixty of the 100 senators are effectively required to vote for a nomination due to procedural rules.

Consumer bureau spokeswoman Jen Howard declined to comment, as did Jen Psaki, a White House spokeswoman.