Minutes before a scheduled vote on Richard Cordray's appointment as the Director of the CFPB that many thought would lead to Harry Reid invoking the so-called "nuclear option" of a change to Senate filibuster rules, Senator Reid announced a deal that inches the Upper Chamber back from the brink and clears the way for an up or down vote on Mr. Cordray's appointment.
This morning the Senate voted 71 to 29 to end a Republican filibuster and allow a vote on Mr. Cordray's appointment. Mr. Reid stated that the deal struck this morning would also allow for confirmation votes on six additional executive appointees, provided that President Obama drops the nominations of Richard Griffin and Sharon Block to the National Labor Relations Board and picks replacement nominees.
While the media's focus is largely on the Senate's avoidance of the "nuclear option" and what the agreement means for bipartisan politics in the future, the vote in invoke cloture on Mr. Cordray's appointment has more immediate and concrete impact on the CFPB. We wrote earlier about the D.C. Circuit Court's opinion in Noel Canning v. NLRB, which put certain CFPB powers and actions in doubt. If Mr. Cordray is confirmed, as expected, the uncertainty about the validity of the CFPB's past actions can be put to rest, and financial institutions can begin to seriously contemplate how the new agency is likely to affect their business in the present and future. Mr. Cordray's confirmation, however, remains controversial and some argue that he should be rejected on the merits.
More information about this morning's Senate vote can be found here.
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