MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

The Senate Republcans are trying to defang Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protecton Bureau by not officially appointing Richard Cordray as head of the agency.Count the ways that the GOP in Congress is still trying to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). There are so many that you would need a calculator.

Start with the holding up through a -- you got it – yet another "threatened" filibuster of the appointment of Richard Cordray as official head of the agency. Currently, he is only in the position as a recess appointment. This limits his power, term and implementation of the full consumer protection law that was enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank legislation, which the Republicans loathe, as weak as it is.

According to the Washington Post's Mike Konczl, the GOP is using its never-ending intimidation aimed at Harry Reid that they will hold up the Senate's business to block Cordray's official appointment unless, in essence, the agency s gutted through amendatory legislation. Reid, in what now is a tired toothless threat, says that he may end the non-filibuster/filibuster by reducing a closure vote to merely needing a majority and not 60 votes.

But Reid has threatened this for years. His dithering on dropping the "nuclear bomb" of actually making a filibuster a filibuster is either due to his agreement with the corporate status quo or he's just a naïve get along to go along wimp. Some Democrats say changing the filibuster regulation (it is a Senate rule, not a law or constitutional provision) would force the Democrats to lose a leveraging tool if they become the minority in the Senate in 2014 or thereafter. That might make a good argument except the Democrats generally roll over and support Republican bills and federal judicial and executive branch nominees without threatening a filibuster when they are in the minority.

The Republicans play politics like street thugs and the Democrats like jellyfish.

Meanwhile, the consumers are already benefiting from the CFPB, even if in its weakened stake, and from regulation of financial legislation in the Dodd-Frank law, according to the Post:

The CFPB is structured to look like all the other banking regulators. Indeed, it is consciously modeled as a consumer-focused version of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). And as we’ll see, the powers that Republicans are arguing are unprecedented are actually the same powers and structures the other banking regulators have.This isn’t to say the CFPB isn’t a serious banking regulator. It is not a committee set up to go study something and make recommendations or an advisory panel that will disband before doing anything. Already it’s bringing accountability to the financial sector on behalf of consumers: It’s gone after illegal or deceptive practices at American Express, Discover, and Capital One and is bringing extensive new regulations to the housing market. It is, as they say, a big deal, and it is now the law of the land.

However, the law of the land also requires it to have an executive to be fully operational. As the Congressional Research Service summarized, “Until a CFPB Director is appointed, [Dodd-Frank] provides the Secretary the authority to exercise some, but not all of the Bureau’s authorities.“With the Senate stonewalling, President Obama recess-appointed Cordray. The constitutionality of this action was brought into question when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. rejected a recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board made at the same time.

So until Cordray (who is a ringer for the fictional NBC page -- Kenneth Parcell -- on "30 Rock," by the way) is confirmed by the Senate, the right of consumers to be protected from predatory financial institutions and banks hangs by a thread. All because 43 GOP Senators -- who represent roughly only about a third of the US population because they are mostly from states with relatively small numbers of voters -- have signed a letter opposing not just Cordray (remember Obama dumped Elizabeth Warren who designed the agency due to GOP opposition), but any Obama nominee to head the agency, according to the Post:

The senators state, “We will continue to oppose the consideration of any nominee, regardless of party affiliation, to be the CFPB director until key structural changes [are made.]”

Is it time to protect consumers by majority rule. A "take no prisoners" Republican caucus is defying two-thirds of the US population, a majority by anyone's standards, by merely scaring Harry Reid for the umpteenth time with a filibuster that never occurs because Reid won't call their bluff.

Consumer protection is an All-American issue. What consumer wants to be screwed over financially? Why the Democrats don't take the ball and ram it to the goal post may be more a testament to the power of corporate and financial institutions over Congress than to Reid's craven capitulation.

(Photo: Wikipedia)