The head of the nation’s central bank and the top federal regulator charged with consumer financial protection are slated to begin their respective rounds of the coming year’s semiannual testimony before Congress over the next two weeks.
The two hearings are included on a list of February committee and subcommittee hearings released Tuesday by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). Here are details:
- On Feb. 6, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathleen (“Kathy”) Kraninger is slated to testify during a full committee hearing titled “Protecting Consumers or Allowing Consumer Abuse? A Semi-Annual Review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” A possible hint of how that will go, Waters on Monday said the bureau’s policy statement issued Friday to “gut” the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition on unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, or UDAAP, (that is, by limiting how the bureau will apply the “abusive” element) “will only encourage bad actors to engage in the reckless anti-consumer behavior that led to the financial crisis.”
- On Feb. 11, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. (“Jay”) Powell is set to provide semiannual testimony on “Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy.” Powell has reiterated in past Financial Services Committee hearings that the Fed will remain independent in how it carries out its mission despite pressure from the White House about how it should conduct monetary policy. Powell’s comments during a press conference at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Wednesday (Jan. 29) following the close of the Federal Open Market Committee’s policy setting session could touch on some of the points likely to be raised during the House panel hearing.