Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown has become the first Senate Republican to support the nomination of Richard Cordray to become director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The Boston Globe reports that Brown's decision puts him at odds with his fellow Senate Republicans, who have overwhelming vowed to block the Cordray nomination by filibuster unless the governing structure of the CFPB is changed. Brown and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski are the only Senate Republicans who declined to sign a GOP letter vowing to filibuster the Cordray nomination.
Cordray's nomination passed the Senate Banking Committee last month in a 12-10 vote along party lines, but it has not been scheduled for a confirmation vote by the full Senate.
‘The senator supports the Cordray nomination and believes it deserves an up or down vote on the Senate floor,’ says John Donnelly, a spokesperson for Brown.
In 2010, Brown was one of three Republicans who bucked the party line and voted for the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, which included the creation of the CFPB. Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard professor who is credited as the architect of the CFPB, is seeking the Democratic Senate nomination in Massachusetts in an effort to unseat Brown in next year's election.