I’m disgusted.
I just got back to my office from the Senate Banking Committee, where I asked Kathy Kraninger – Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – some tough questions.
As a White House Office of Management and Budget official, Kraninger oversaw the budget for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice – the two cabinet agencies that implemented Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy that ripped babies away from their parents at the border.
I repeatedly asked her: Did you help develop or implement this policy?
She bobbed, she weaved – and she completely dodged the question.
Then I asked her, point blank: Do you think it is immoral to set up a plan whose deliberate intent is to inflict harm on children?
She couldn’t give me a straight answer. She refused to answer the question “yes” or “no.”
Kathy Kraninger’s role in the border separation policy is a moral stain that will follow her for the rest of her life – and if we give her a big promotion to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, then it’s a stain on the senators who vote for her.
We still need answers from Kathy Kraninger – because we certainly didn’t get them in today’s confirmation hearing. The American people need to see Kraninger’s OMB documents and emails detailing her role in this immigration policy – to see who Trump wants to put in charge of an agency whose sole mission is to stand up for people who don’t have power.
This isn’t about politics – this is about people. The CFPB needs a leader who will stand up to powerful interests and level the playing field for working people – and I know that person is not Kathy Kraninger.