Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus introduced legislation to establish a bipartisan commission of five members at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) responsible for faciliting consumer financial protection.

The Responsible Consumer Financial Protection Regulations Act provides the commission the ability to carry out all of the duties that would otherwise fall on the director of the CFPB, whom has yet to nominated by the President.

“Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the director of the CFPB is given a broad and virtually unlimited mandate to substitute his or her judgment for that of consumers and the free market,” said the Chairman. “Because the CFPB might be the most powerful agency ever created, I am introducing this bill to ensure that a non-partisan, balanced approach to consumer protection prevails.”

The legislation introduced by Chairman Bachus is identical to the approach the House proposed during the debate on financial reform last year. However, the approach was later dropped by the Democratic Conferees to the Dodd-Frank Act.

Creating the commission is “an important first step in ending predatory financial practices without inappropriately limiting access to credit that small businesses and individuals want and need. We can achieve consumer protection without a credit czar,” he said.