Elizabeth Warren aligns with daughter’s think tank on policy goals

03/16/2013

Patrick Howley





Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s high-profile campaigns to defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and press criminal charges against HSBC and other “big banks” align neatly with viewpoints promoted and disseminated by her daughter’s left-wing think tank Demos, a George Soros-funded organization that played a vital behind-the-scenes role in Warren’s electoral victory last year.

Warren’s close relationship with Demos underscores not only the extent to which her own daughter aided her political career, but also the influence of well-funded progressive think tanks on the Democratic policy agenda as more openly progressive candidates gain national elective office.

Warren excoriated Senate Republicans Tuesday in her remarks defending the confirmation of Richard Cordray as head of the CFPB, a Dodd-Frank agency that Warren herself designed. Cordray was installed as CFPB director last year by President Barack Obama with a recess appointment, and has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. Republicans have been attempting to hold up Cordray’s confirmation until the CFPB, which has been criticized for its sweeping and largely vague regulatory power, is reformed.

“I see nothing here but a filibuster threat against Director Cordray as an attempt to weaken the consumer agency. I think the delay in getting him confirmed is bad for consumers,” Warren said.

The think tank Demos, founded in 2000 in New York City and currently chaired by Warren’s daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, issued a report the same day as Warren’s remarks, titled “Why are Republicans blocking Richard Cordray at the CFPB?”

“Whether it’s protecting consumers from the type of reckless and deceptive mortgage lending that sparked the economic downturn or beginning to oversee the massive credit reporting companies that shape the financial lives of American consumers, the CFPB has proven itself to be a critical consumer watchdog,” Demos reported, accusing Republicans of trying to “stack the deck against the rest of us.”

Demos’ report was cited in media coverage of Warren’s remarks, with no mention of the group’s ties to the junior senator.

Read more: Elizabeth Warren side-by-side with her daughter's think tank on policy goals | The Daily Caller