CFPB nominee faces questions about agency funding, staffing and statutory obligations

Jonathan McKernan, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Feb. 19 that he will “fully and faithfully execute the law” if confirmed even as senators raised alarm about actions they said had effectively shuttered parts of the agency.

The committee’s ranking member, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, said the committee had limited question time and pressed McKernan on whether he would maintain statutorily required CFPB functions. “There are at least 88 specific obligations in the Dodd‑Frank Act that the CFPB is legally obligated to perform,” Warren said, and cited sections 1021 and 1013, which she said require the bureau to implement federal consumer financial laws and operate a consumer‑complaint hotline and database. McKernan responded that those duties are mandatory and that, if confirmed, “they’ll follow the law.”

Warren and other senators repeatedly asked whether McKernan…