Obama Adviser on Consumer Agency to Address Business Leaders

By EDWARD WYATT
NYT

WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Warren, who is overseeing the beginnings of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will confront some of her chief antagonists on Wednesday when she addresses a gathering at the United States Chamber of Commerce, the business lobbying group that has adamantly opposed the existence of the agency.

“I’ve had more teasing about this meeting than I’ve had in a long time,” Ms. Warren is scheduled to tell the gathering, according to excerpts of remarks released late Tuesday. “You can imagine the analogies: Nixon to China, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Senator John Kennedy speaking before Protestant ministers.”

Ms. Warren is expected to stress that she and the chamber’s members share one important belief: “Competitive markets are good for consumers and for businesses,” according to the excerpts. “The important question is how to ensure that markets are competitive.”

Ms. Warren, who is an assistant to the president and a special adviser to the secretary of the Treasury, received a lashing from Republicans two weeks ago at her first appearance on Capitol Hill after beginning her role at the consumer bureau.

(More here.)