Trump’s Acting Directors Are Quietly Dropping “Acting” From Their Titles
By: David Dayen, The Intercept, November 29, 2017
THE FIGHT OVER the leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is assumed to be about President Donald Trump’s intent to deregulate finance. But it’s also part of a larger fight about separation of powers and the expanding authority of the executive, made clear by the Trump administration’s use, and abuse, of the law the president relied on to attempt to install Mick Mulvaney as acting director.
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On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to the White House asking why Mulvaney’s staff from the Office of Management and Budget had accompanied him to CFPB, and how ethics and record-keeping requirements apply in this situation. The Campaign for Accountability on Wednesday asked Congress to investigate Mulvaney over having OMB staff perform work for CFPB, despite being paid for a separate purpose. But by evading the Senate confirmation process, the Trump administration has limited Congress’s constitutional ability to have a say in those who run the executive branch.