After months of blatant obstruction and a refusal to confirm Elizabeth Warren as the head of the new consumer protection agency, Warren withdrew her nomination to explore the idea of running for senate.
As her replacement, President Obama nominated Richard Cordray, the former Attorney General of Ohio. And as the Republicans are now clearly stating, they won't confirm him either unless their demands for cash-money, a fully-fueled jet waiting for them at the airport, and the resurrection of 8-track tapes are met.
“Opposition to or support of Mr. Cordray’s nomination will become relevant as soon as the President agrees to make the structural changes we’ve requested,” said Jonathan Graffeo, the spokesman for Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). “Until then, Sen. Shelby and his colleagues stand firmly behind the statement they expressed in their May letter: No accountability, no confirmation.”
The "structural changes" they were demanding during the battle over Elizabeth Warren are the same changes they are demanding now -- they want the consumer protection agency rendered toothless and ineffectual.
Only after the agency is neutered will they be willing to confirm anyone for the office, because the Republicans are okay with Big Government and Big Bureaucracy as long as it has no actual power or the ability to do its job.
via ThinkProgress