President Barack Obama plans to use a recess appointment to install Richard Cordray as head of the country's new consumer financial protection watchdog, sidestepping Republican congressional opposition to his pick.
"Today in Ohio, President Obama will announce the recess appointment of consumer watchdog Richard Cordray," White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer announced in a tweet.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law to police the market for consumer products such as credit cards and mortgages.
Republicans have charged the agency is a regulatory overreach, and last month they blocked an attempt by the Senate to confirm Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, to be the bureau's first director.
The decision to bypass the Senate and appoint Cordray to the job will further inflame partisan tensions between Republicans and Democrats in advance of the November elections.
(Reporting By Alister Bull and Dave Clarke)
