Page 108 - TrumpsEconEra_Flat

Chapter 4: Government Overreach

ended standards set no limits on the regulator’s power
until the Trump Administration constrained its
authority.
Authors of the U.S. Constitution chose to give
Congress the power of the purse as a check against
excessive Executive overreach and prohibited the
establishment of independent rogue agencies. However,
in 2010, President Obama decided to defy this provision
when he decreed by executive order that the Federal
Reserve would house and finance the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau. Because Congress did not
fund the agency, it had no authority over it. The CFPB
promoted big government by politicizing decisions and
helped undermine aspects of the free market. The CFPB
impeded President Trump’s economic agenda and went
against his philosophy of smaller government.

On November 24, 2017, Richard Cordray, the
director of the CFPB, resigned. The language of the
Dodd-Frank Act lets the bureau’s deputy director serve
as the acting director in the absence or unavailability of
the director. Therefore, Leandra English claimed
leadership of the CFPB. President Trump superseded
her claim and appointed his successor, Mick Mulvaney.
The Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel ruled
that the law was on President Trump’s side. But the
question remains, should the CFPB have the authority
to police much of the American economy, from credit
cards and mobile-phone payments to college
accreditation? When politicians bring programs into
existence by decree and not by rules of established law,
we are well on our way down Hayek’s road to serfdom.

-107-