Senate GOP Blocks Cordray for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -

Raises Recess Appointment Possibility

Updated: December 8, 2011 | 11:34 a.m.
December 8, 2011 | 11:05 a.m.

KIICHIRO SATO/AP

FILE - This Jan. 8, 2009 file photo shows Ohio's Attorney General Richard Cordray during his swearing-in ceremony in Columbus, Ohio. Cordray will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009, to re-instate the death penalty for convicted murderer Frank Spisak. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Senate Republicans blocked President Obama’s nominee to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday, raising the possibility of a recess appointment as a 2012-focused White House tries to cast the GOP as Wall Street’s party.

The Senate’s refusal to consider Richard Cordray as head of the agency was expected. Republican leaders, long opposed to the bureau created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform, have insisted the law be rewritten to make structural changes to the agency before they would consider the nominee. The tactic is a new one and it underscores the extreme level of partisanship that characterizes this Congress.

The White House might not have an opportunity for a recess appointment if the Senate remains in pro forma session.

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