We may get to hear more from Elizabeth Warren here shortly:
House Republican lawmakers fired the opening salvo Monday in a war they plan against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by this year’s overhaul of financial regulations.
Republican Reps. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the leading contender to take the reins of the House Financial Services Committee, and Illinois Rep. Judy Biggert, the top Republican on the panel’s oversight and investigations subcommittee, sent letters to the inspectors general of both the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, directing them to conduct an investigation into the work being done to establish the new bureau.
Ms. Warren’s contacts with industry participants will be covered by the Treasury’s disclosure policy because she is a special adviser to Mr. Geithner. However, a Treasury official said Ms. Warren’s schedule will be more regularly on the consumer agency’s website once one is established. A treasury spokesman added that Ms. Warren is also willing to testify before Congress.
The lawmakers signaled they planned to scrutinize Ms. Warren’s every move, writing that they “are concerned that Professor Warren will be approaching this task without any experience managing—or creating—an organization of this scale and importance.”
I think she’ll hold up fine. With any luck, conservative activists can turn up a memorable one-liner (wise WASP?) and GOP House members can spend the whole hearing repeating it 5,000 times.