Sen. Elizabeth Warren planted a liberal flag on Thursday, pushing the government’s right to regulate as she ripped Republicans, the National Rifle Association and anyone else who would stand in its way.
In a wide-ranging speech to the Consumer Federation of America, Warren defended federal regulations as essential for safe consumers and a healthy economy. And at a time when “cutting red tape” is a key plank of Republicans’ plan for economic growth, Warren argued that regulations were a success story in America.
“It’s thanks to federal agencies that no one has to worry that those white pills are baking soda instead of antibiotics or that the paint on the baby’s crib is laced with lead,” Warren said, according to a copy of her prepared remarks.
She singled out financial products and touted the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a fledgling financial watchdog created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank overhaul of financial regulations.
“This agency is about making consumer credit clear — no more hiding tricks and traps in a thicket of fine print. It is about letting consumers see the deal — and not worrying about the things they can’t see,” Warren said.
Warren hammered Republicans over their vow to block Richard Cordray, Obama’s nominee to lead the CFPB, from being confirmed. A filibuster-proof bloc of Republicans are demanding changes to the agency’s structure and budgeting process before they’ll confirm any director, saying the changes are needed for proper oversight of the new agency.
But Warren, as well as the consumer advocates she was addressing, argues the Republicans are attempting to weaken the watchdog.
“Blocking Rich Cordray is about keeping the game rigged, keeping the game rigged so that consumers remain in the dark — and a few bad actors can rake in big profits,” Warren said.
Demanding Cordray’s confirmation has become a running theme in Warren’s public appearances, but she also ventured into other policy areas Thursday, such as gun violence and campaign finance.
Warren hammered the NRA, naming the group among the “armies of lobbyists [that] are fighting to rig the system so that the public remains in the dark.”
Warren, who has pledged to support a renewed ban on assault weapons and universal background checks for gun buyers, hammered the NRA for blocking data collection on firearms.
“If as many people were dying of a mysterious disease as innocent bystanders are dying from firearms, a cure would be our top priority,” Warren said. “But we don’t even have good data on gun violence. Why? Because the NRA and the gun industry lobby made it their goal to prevent any serious effort to document the violence.”
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 9:01 a.m. on March 14, 2013.
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