The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is one of those agencies that based on its name sounds warm and fuzzy like Consumer Reports or the Better Business Bureau.

The reality is the agency, created by the Dodd-Frank law, will be run by a single director who can be removed by the President only under extreme circumstances; will have over $500 million to spend without getting Congressional approval, and will duplicate the functions of other agencies (i.e. another layer of bureaucracy).

A Chamber survey conducted by Harris Interactive found that when people are informed about these facts, they become more likely to oppose the CFPB:

• Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) said they were less likely to support the Bureau when told the CFPB “is run by a single director confirmed by the Senate for a 5-year term who can only be removed from power by the President in extreme circumstances.”
• Nearly seven in ten Americans (68%) said they were less likely to support the Bureau when told the CFPB “has access to more than half a billion dollars in government funding each year, and does not need congressional approval to spend this money.”

Before taking the survey, a little over a quarter (26%) of Americans opposed the CFBP. Yet after taking the survey, half of Americans (50%) opposed the regulatory agency.

David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, said, "The CFPB can play an important role for consumers, but consumers are right to seek reasonable checks and balances on a new $500 million federal agency lead by a single director.  For this agency to succeed, it must provide accountability to the American people at a time when jobs and our economy are at stake.  We urge the Senate to take the next step and move forward on legislation that would improve the Bureau over the long term."