Oral history interview with Elizabeth Warren, 2022
Abstract
Elizabeth Warren discusses her advocacy for financial reform and consumer protection during and around the years of the Obama presidency, and shares memories from her service as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) from 2008 to 2010, and assistant to the president and special advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from 201 0 to 2011. Warren focuses on financial industry predatory lending and its effects on working-class and poor Americans, and describes the development of her advocacy for a new federal industry that could enforce existing laws and protect consumers. She provides details about her encounters with Barack Obama and Obama administration officials around the development of the financial reform proposals that became the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, industry lobbying against the inclusion of the consumer protection agency in the legislation, the process of standing-up the CFPB following the passage of Dodd-Frank, Republican opposition to her prospective appointment as CFPB director, and the effects that the CFPB has had on the U.S. economy and consumer finance. Also discussed are Obama's personal commitment to combatting predatory finance, his encouragement of Warren to run for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, the power of the president to define the content of legislation, and the different perspectives of the federal agencies Warren has gained from her service in both the executive and legislative branches
Presidents--United States; Consumer protection--Law and legislation--United States; Predatory lending--Law and legislation--United States; Warren, Elizabeth; Obama, Barack; Troubled Asset Relief Program (U.S.); United States; United States. Congressional Oversight Panel; United States. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2022
Physical Description
15 pages
Note (Biographical)
Elizabeth Warren is an American politician, former U.S. presidential candidate, and longtime Harvard Law School professor. She was elected senator from Massachusetts in 2012 and is still in office at the time of this interview. During the Obama admini stration, Senator Warren served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. She then worked to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, serving as its first special adviser under President Barack Obama, and also as assistant to the president. Warren is the author of several books, including "A Fighting Chance," "This Fight Is Our Fight," and "The Two-Income Trap," which she wrote with her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi
Note
Interviewed by Nicole R. Hemmer on May 25, 2022. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Elizabeth Warren, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2022