Senator Reverend Warnock questioned Jonathan McKernan, the Trump Administration’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
In partnership with Senator Reverend Warnock, the CFPB addressed 266,560 complaints from Georgians, including 20,168 from servicemembers in the state
The hearing followed the recent news of the dissolution of CFPB, one of multiple federal agencies gutted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
Senator Reverend Warnock is a member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which he chaired last Congress, and which oversees the CFPB
Senator Reverend Warnock during the hearing: “You’ve [Jonathan McKernan] raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of”
Watch Senator Reverend Warnock at Thursday’s hearing HERE
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a member and former chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, which oversees the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), questioned Jonathan McKernan and William Pulte, the Trump Administration’s nominees to lead the CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, respectively.
Last Congress, Senator Warnock worked extensively with the CFPB to return funds and protect Georgians from future financial hardship, helping to address 266,560 complaints from Georgians, including 20,168 from servicemembers in the state. Additionally, Senator Warnock spearheaded several efforts to return dollars to hardworking Americans, including: remove medical debt from credit reports, rule ending an overdraft loophole, highlighting harmful practices in the private student lending market, safeguard Americans from ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ debts, and much more.
During Senator Warnock’s line of questioning for Mr. McKernan, he highlighted the recent news of the dissolution of CFPB, one of many federal agencies gutted by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and if Mr. McKernan shared President Trump’s disturbing view that the agency is “a very important thing to get rid of.”
“President Trump has said the CFPB is, quote, ‘A very important thing to get rid of.’ Yes or no. Do you agree with the President on that point?” asked Senator Warnock.
“Senator, I think our elected officials decide normative questions like that,” said Mr. McKernan.
“You’ve raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of,” said Senator Warnock.
The nomination hearing followed a special hearing earlier in the week that was organized by Ranking Member of the Banking Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and aimed to highlight the repercussions of dismantling the CFPB.
Watch the Senator’s full remarks and line of questioning HERE.
See below transcript of the key exchange between Senator Warnock and CFPB Director nominee Jonathan McKernan:
Senator Reverend Warnock (SRW): “Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – the CFPB – in the wake of the financial crisis, during which Americans saw Wall Street bankers get bailed out, while millions of working folks lost their jobs, their homes, their retirements, their life savings. That’s the situation out of which the CFPB emerged.”
“Mr. McKernan, thank you. I enjoyed our meeting yesterday. Good to meet you. And I want to follow up on our discussion about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the CFPB, the agency you’ve been nominated to run. President Trump has said the CFPB is, quote, ‘A very important thing to get rid of.’ Yes or no. Do you agree with the President on that point?”
Jonathan McKernan (JM): “Senator as I’ve said, the CFPB is a product of statute. That is a question for our elected official. It’s…”
SRW: “Yes or no question, do you agree that it’s a very good thing to get rid of?”
JM: “Senator, I think our elected officials decide normative questions like that.”
SRW: “You’ve raised your hand to run the agency. I think you ought to know whether you think it’s a good thing to get rid of.”
JM: “Well, I will say this. I certainly think that consumer protection is a very good thing, it’s a critical thing. A federal consumer protection role is a very important thing. That’s a lesson I learned from my experience in the 2008 financial crisis. We need to have a regulatory system that works for everyday Americans, and that includes consumer protection.”
SRW: “I’ll take that as you agree with the President, that we don’t necessarily need the CFPB. We need consumer protection, but not the CFPB. Is that your answer?”
JM: “We need, we need to have a strong consumer protection function.”
SRW: “President Trump and Elon Musk have basically gotten rid of the CFPB, which is why the question is so urgent, and the bureau has seen dozens of key employees fired. They’ve been told not to engage in its core supervisory or examination duties required by the law, and has even had its physical headquarters closed and locked.”
“I think that’s a pretty clear message. If someone closes down the office that you’ve been nominated to run.”
“With the CFPB effectively eliminated. How on earth do you plan to lead a shell agency that’s been completely gutted?”
JM: “Senator, I’m not aware of the situation both this the staffing and resources at the CFPB. Well, what I will point to is just what the administration has said in its filings, and some of the litigation ongoing here, and they have said that we are going to have a CFPB that is streamlined and efficient. And quoting, I think, from the brief here, it says, ‘A predicate of that is there will be a CFPB’ again, though this is a question for our elected officials, my job is to follow the law and execute on my mandate.”
SRW: “In the last three months alone, the CFPB has received more than 80,000 complaints from Georgians, with the Bureau currently seeking resolution to more than 40,000 of those complaints with the CFPB shuttered by President Trump and Elon Musk, what’s your plan to ensure that the bureau resolves those 40,000 pending complaints from my constituents in Georgia?”
JM: “Senator like I said, the consumer complaint function is a statutorily required function that’s in 1021c and so my mandate, if I’m confirmed, is to fulfill faithfully, fully that statutory mandate.”
###