House Democratic support for Elizabeth Warren grows

{mosads}“Please join us in sending a letter to President Obama requesting that he use every option available to him, including a recess appointment if necessary, to ensure that Ms. Warren is the CFPB’s first director,” the lawmakers wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter.

Warren is currently serving as a special assistant to the president in charge of establishing the bureau, which was created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and is set to begin work in July.

The push to name Warren director by any means necessary has picked up steam after 44 Senate Republicans said they would block any nominee to head the agency unless changes were made to it. Republicans have maintained that the CFPB as currently designed is too powerful and places too much power in the hands of a single director.

Longtime Warren backers now argue that because no director will be named via Senate confirmation, the president might as well name Warren through recess appointment.

But Republicans maintain the president has had months to nominate a director.

In addition to Maloney, Miller and Ellison, the Democrats who signed on are: Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Lois Capps (Calif.), Michael Capuano (Mass.), André Carson (Ind.), John Conyers (Mich.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Sam Farr (Calif.), Chaka Fattah (Pa.), Raúl Grijalva (N.M.), Luis Guiterrez (D-Ill.), Maurice Hinchey (N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Rush Holt (N.J.), Mike Honda (Calif.), Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas), Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Nita Lowey (N.Y.), Stephen Lynch (Mass.), Jim McDermott (Wash.), James McGovern (Mass.), George Miller (Calif.), Jim Moran (Va.), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Chellie Pingree (Maine), Charlie Rangel (N.Y.), Lucille Roybal-Allard (Calif.), Tim Ryan (Ohio), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), John Sarbanes (Md.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Jackie Speier (Calif.), John Tierney (Mass.), Maxine Waters (Calif.), Peter Welch (Vt.), and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.).