During last week’s confirmation hearing, lawmakers on the committee were limited to only 75 seconds each to ask questions of all four nominees. This include two positions with direct ties to the housing and mortgage industries — Jonathan McKernan to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Bill Pulte to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
In a press release published by Democrats on the banking committee, Warren released the full responses to her submitted questions for all four nominees and called their answers “disqualifying.”
Similar to critiques that Warren and other Democrats levied against the confirmation process for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner, Warren also blasted the committee for proceeding with confirmation votes without FBI background checks for two of the considered nominees.
“Today the Committee will meet in executive session to vote on the nominations and Republicans will jam them through even before the FBI has completed a standard background investigation,” the release stated.
Warren also published a letter she sent to Pulte in which she requested information about reports that he deleted 25,000 posts from social media platform X, which she said he “refused” to do.
Nevertheless, the nominations for all four nominees progressed out of the committee on Thursday morning and will go to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. It’s widely expected for all four nominees to be confirmed. Three of the votes, including for McKernan, tallied 13-11 along party lines.
Pulte’s nomination was the only one to gain bipartisan support, with two Democrats — Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland — crossing the aisle to advance his nomination in a vote of 15-9.
Committee Chair Tim Scott lauded the nominations in statements submitted for the record.
“As the director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Jonathan McKernan will ensure accountability and much needed reforms to curtail the weaponization of this rogue agency,” Scott said.
Scott said of Pulte that his “leadership of the Federal Housing Finance Agency will be crucial in protecting our housing finance system.”
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