By Ronald D. Orol
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - A top Obama administration official on Tuesday urged Republicans to meet with the White House nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in an attempt to get enough support for the candidate to be approved by the Senate for the position. "As senators get to know Cordray, we believe they will find that he is an ideal candidate to lead the CFPB," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin in testimony prepared for a Senate Banking Committee hearing. Legislative observers predict that Democrats plan to bring the nominee, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, up for a vote by the Senate later this week. They add that it is unlikely Cordray will obtain the filibuster-proof 60 votes necessary to be approved by the Senate for the position. Fourty-four Republican Senators have signed a letter saying they won't back any nominee to head the bureau unless structural changes are made, such as creating a panel instead of a one-person director.
