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President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said he would “follow the law” when pressed by Democratic senators during his confirmation hearing Thursday about the future of the embattled agency.
Several senators told the nominee, Jonathan McKernan, that the Trump administration apparently no longer wanted the regulator created by Congress to exist, citing moves to effectively halt all work at the CFPB and bar employees from showing up to its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, read out loud a series of current CFPB functions written into congressional statutes and asked whether McKernan would uphold them.
“If confirmed, will you implement and enforce the law so that everyone has fair access to financial products like credit cards and mortgages?” Warren asked CFPB nominee Jonathan McKernan.
“Yes,” McKernan said. “I’m fully committed to following the law fully and faithfully. That includes each of the statutes.” He added at another point: “If confirmed, I will follow the law.”
Warren said, “If you follow the law, we will all be good.”
Warren was instrumental in creating the CFPB following the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Its mission was to oversee consumer finance at large financial institutions, monitoring everything from car loans and credit cards to checking accounts and payday loans. It draws its funding from the Federal Reserve.
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Many Republicans have opposed the CFPB since its creation and have often called for its closure, arguing that Washington has too many redundant regulators.
The Trump administration halted the agency’s work and shut down investigations while the president and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk both have effectively called for its elimination.
On Thursday, the CFPB dismissed three lawsuits taken by the Biden administration against Capital One (COF), Rocket Homes Real Estate, and a loan servicer named Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.
Several Democratic senators raised these developments with McKernan. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said, “I have this sinking feeling that you’re departing Liverpool on the Titanic. So good luck.”
When Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) asked McKernan to answer “yes or no” to whether the CFPB returning $20 billion to consumers in the form of rebates was a good thing, McKernan said, “Senator, I think it’s important that we have redress to consumers,” but “I don’t think we should evaluate the success of the CFPB based on dollar numbers or enforcement count.”
“That’s like evaluating an official based on the number of fouls he calls during the game,” McKernan added. “We should evaluate the game on whether it’s fair.”
“Just say yes,” said Warner. “Restitution is good.”
McKernan told lawmakers his first priority, if confirmed, would be to refocus the CFPB on its mission. He said he believes the CFPB needs to be “right-sized” and that accountability needs to be reinstated to elected officials.
“A big part of the CFPB’s problem is has very little accountability either to Congress or to the president,” he said.
“I think that’s part of the reason we’ve had these recurring episodes of CFPB pushing the limits.”
When asked whether whether he will disagree if the the administration tells him to fire employees at the CFPB, McKernan said he would make sure the office performs its statutory function.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro (D-Nev.) said she hoped McKernan doesn’t just “rubber stamp an administration that thinks that they have the ability to disregard the law, ignore Congress and the agencies that we have created and shut them down to the detriment of people in this country.”
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