By Ray Birch
WASHINGTON—President Trump has nominated Stuart Levenbach to serve as director of the CFPB, according to a new filing on Congress.gov.
But one analyst believes this is simply a move that further indicates the CFPB is going to be shut down soon.
The nomination, submitted to the Senate on Nov. 18, would install Levenbach for a five-year term, replacing former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee received the nomination the same day and will oversee the confirmation process.
Levenbach would step in for current CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought.
Levenbach, of Maryland, is currently an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget and previously served in senior roles at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
A confirmation hearing date has not yet been scheduled.
Brandy Bruyere, partner at Honigman, LLP, contends the nomination of Levenbach is simply a placeholder that will allow Vought to remain in the acting director role.
“The Vacancies Act generally allows someone to be in an acting temporary role for 210 days, or while a nomination is pending in the Senate. By making a nomination, this allows Acting Director Vought to continue to serve in the CFPB role even if 210 days has gone by,” she said.
“That said, this is not supposed to be a permanent way to game the system and get around making someone a more permanent director. This already happened once before when Jonathan McKernan was nominated to the role in February, but the Administration withdrew that nominee back in May,” Bruyere continued. “The thinking may be they only need this extension to complete shutting down the CFPB given last week’s news about the Bureau’s take on funding and operating without appropriations.”