Federal agency charged with helping consumers make better financial decisions is facing questions about how it has managed its own money
Is the CFPB’s Building a Money Pit?
The federal agency charged with helping consumers make better financial decisions is facing questions about how it has managed its own money.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s director, Richard Cordray, came under fire Tuesday on Capitol Hill for what Republicans characterized as a lavish plan to renovate property located on G Street near the White House.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb. Hensarling (R., Texas) questioned why renovating the building had soared to $145.1 million from a prior estimate of $95 million, according to a December financial report from the regulator. The regulator’s employees are expected to move to temporary space while the renovation work is being completed.
Mr. Hensarling compared the agency’s renovation of the late-1970s-era building, on a cost-per-square foot basis, to the Trump World Tower in New York, Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai—the tallest building in the world.
“Explain to me, Mr. Director, why I should be–why I shouldn’t be outraged, and why the American people shouldn’t be outraged,” he said.
https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/01/28/is-the-cfpbs-building-a-money-pit/