White House budget aide tabbed for consumer board

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has chosen Kathy Kraninger, a White House budget aide, to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an administration official said.

If approved by the Senate, Kathy Kraninger would succeed her boss, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, who has led the consumer watchdog part-time since November.

“She will bring a fresh perspective and much-needed management experience to the CFPB, which has been plagued by excessive spending, dysfunctional operations, and politicized agendas,” White House spokeswoman Lindsey Walters said in a statement. She termed Kraninger “a staunch supporter of free enterprise.”

The CFPB is one of the most politically divisive agencies in Washington, hailed as a regulatory crown jewel by Democrats while maligned by Republicans as a bastion of government overreach and waste. Its broad framework was created by Elizabeth Warren, now a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, after the global financial crisis a decade ago, to protect consumers from financial abuse.

Kraninger joined the Office of Management and Budget as an associate director in 2017 and has overseen the budget for financial regulators — experience that the White House believes will be beneficial in her new role.

Kraninger would inherit an agency that has been roiled by a shift to Republican leadership under Mulvaney from its roots as a scourge of financial firms under Obama administration appointee Richard Cordray, a Democrat now running for governor of Ohio.