President Trump plans to leave his nomination for Jonathan McKernan to direct the consumer financial protection office, leaving the agency in the hands of a temporary director while Mr. Trump’s officials work to gut the agency.
The Department of the Treasury said Friday that the president planned to nominate Mr. McKernan to serve as Secretary of National Finance of the Department. Mr. McKernan was nominated in February to serve as director of consumption agencies and testified that month at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. His nomination was approved by the committee, but the tasks of the legs had not yet passed.
A White House representative said the president intended to terminate that nomination and, on the other hand, make Mr. McKernan occupy the role of the treasure.
Russell T. Vought, the director of the White House Budget Office, has been an interim director of the Consumer Office since the beginning of February. It has frozen most of the agency’s operations and tried to fire 90 percent of its staff, a movement that federal courts have temporarily blocked. A panel of three judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Columbia district circuit is scheduled to listen to oral arguments for that case next week.
Also on Friday, the consumer agency published a formal notice of its intention to withdraw more than 60 statements of orientation policies and documents. To do so would serve the public interest by reducing the demands for compliance with the companies regulating the office, Vought said in the notice.
The banking business groups praised the orientation purge, while the consumer defenders responded with alarm.
Better Markets, a defense group that favors the supervision of the financial industry, said that Mr. Vought’s measure was probably a first step to dismantle the consumer complaint database, which helps people pursue claims against companies in financial disputes. Consumers have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in reimbursements and other relief in response to complaints to the consumer office.
“This is a calculated demolition of the tools in which consumers and defenders trust to protect themselves from financial abuse,” said Brady Williams, a better market lawyer.
The American Banqueros Association said he was delighted to see that the agency drastically supports its guide. These documents were intended to help companies understand how the agency interpreted several laws, but the use desk used as a form of manufacturing of stealthy rules, the banking group said.
“This misuse of guidance creates unnecessary confusion for regulated entities,” said Rob Nichols, executive director of the group. “We hope that today’s action marks a turning point.”
