Nearly three months after President Obama nominated Richard Cordray as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the former Ohio Attorney General has gotten one step closer to filling that position after the Senate Banking Committee voted to approve the nomination.

Of course, Cordray’s approval still requires the approval of the entire Senate, where a number of opponents have vowed to block the appointment if major structural changes are not made to the CFPB.

Regardless, our cohorts at Consumers Union are thrilled with the Banking Committee’s actions.

“We applaud the committee for moving forward to approve Richard Cordray as the head of this important consumer watchdog,” says Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel of Consumers Union. “We urge the full Senate to quickly follow suit and not block the nomination. This nation can ill afford to allow Wall Street’s interests to be placed above the interests of consumers. That’s why we need a strong CFPB with Richard Cordray at the helm so the bureau can use its full powers to fight the tricks and traps of the financial industry.”

Earlier today, the White House posted about the pending vote and noted the importance of filling the directorship at the newly formed bureau:

Without a director, the CFPB will be unable to ensure that banks, debt collectors, private student loan providers and payday loan providers are properly supervised and that consumers are not put at risk of falling prey to the same kinds of abusive practices that helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

No matter what the Senate decides, we still can’t get over how much Cordray resembles NBC Studios page Kenneth Parcell.

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