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Obama bypasses Senate, installs new consumer chief
January 4, 2012
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Richard Cordray, speaks as he visits with William and Endia Eason, not pictured, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, at their home in Cleveland, Ohio. In a defiant display of executive power, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will buck GOP opposition and name Cordray as the nation's chief consumer watchdog. Outraged Republican leaders in Congress suggested that courts would determine the appointment was illegal. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — President Barack Obama says he won't take "no" as an answer from Republicans, so he's going around them to appoint the head of a new consumer protection agency.
Obama says Republicans would just keep holding Richard Cordray's nomination hostage — and the president says that's inexcusable and wrong.
He says Cordray must be in place in order for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to start helping consumers deal with unscrupulous mortgage companies, dishonest payday lenders, and others.
Obama announced the appointment of Cordray during a stop Wednesday in Ohio, where Cordray once served as attorney general.
Republicans are outraged but Obama says he has an obligation to act when Congress refuses to.
The recess appointment means Cordray stands to serve for at least the next two years.
