Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, during the debate over the budget, Dr. Coburn and I offered an amendment to create a separate and independent inspector general within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

We introduced this amendment because, thanks to a quirk in Dodd-Frank, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the only major Federal agency without its own inspector general. I think people know I tend to rely a great deal on inspectors general within the bureaucracy to be an independent check to make sure the laws are followed and that money is spent according to the law.

Dodd-Frank created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but it did not create a protection bureau-specific inspector general. Instead, because Dodd-Frank funded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through the Federal Reserve, this Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ended up sharing an inspector general with the Federal Reserve.

This has created a problem. Right now, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's inspector general has a split role. He serves as both inspector general for the Federal Reserve and for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I believe this creates a great deal of confusion and, obviously, a bureaucratic battle for resources. In fact, the inspector general has already had to create two separate audit plans. He also has had to hire employees who can oversee both the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The end result is an office split by two very important but very different priorities. Dodd-Frank created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau within the Federal Reserve in order to fund the Bureau without having to come to us on Capitol Hill to get congressional appropriations. This is a problem but not a problem I am going to deal with right now. We had a marriage of convenience, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau within the Federal Reserve.

The Bureau's function is very different from the Federal Reserve. Despite this, years after Dodd-Frank was passed, this unique situation remains. My concern is if you have one inspector general trying to cover two different entities, the end result is neither gets fully overseen. In other words, we don't have adequate checks within the bureaucracy to make sure that laws are abided by and that money is spent according to law.

Since the passage of the Inspector General Act of 1978, Congress has believed that each Department and each agency needs its own independent inspector general. This has been a longstanding bipartisan position.

Currently, there are 73 inspectors general, in every single Cabinet-level Department and almost all independent agencies. Even small independent agencies such as the Federal Maritime Commission and the National Science Foundation have their own inspector general.

In each of these agencies, if each of these agencies has their own independent inspector general, shouldn't the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau--particularly since this Bureau doesn't have to come to Congress for appropriations. We don't get appropriations oversight since some of their decisions can't even be challenged in the courts.

Now we are in this situation. The majority has opposed commonsense changes such as this to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

During the budget debate when Dr. Coburn and I introduced the amendment to create a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-specific inspector general, the majority would not allow it to be brought up for a vote. The position I heard over and over was the majority did not wish to relitigate Dodd-Frank in any way. I did not hear any concerns related to the merits of this proposal. Our amendment wasn't about relitigating anything, it was about creating accountability and oversight at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and doing that through an independent inspector general, such as 73 other independent agencies have these sorts of checks and balances.

Because the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded directly by the Federal Reserve, there are few, if any, congressional oversight checks on the Bureau. This makes an independent inspector general even more important.

Right now, it seems to me, since we don't discuss Dodd-Frank very often, we don't have legislation related to it. We don't have opportunities to amend. This nomination of Mr. Cordray, now before the Senate, is the only tool the Senate has to create transparency and accountability within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As we consider this nomination, I hope we will remember that and consider the Senate's role in overseeing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, what steps we can take to make the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more transparent and, hence, more accountable to Congress, and in turn to the American people.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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