The Hill News

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus accused President Obama of using an "unprecedented" level of power in circumventing the Senate and recess-appointing Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

"I can tell you that there's no question that this is unprecedented power that the president is trying to harness here," Priebus said during a conference call on Wednesday.

Senate Republicans have opposed Cordray's appointment, arguing that as it's designed right now, Cordray would wield too much power as the head of the CFPB.

More recently, they've been trying to obstruct Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, from becoming the new director by holding the Senate in a pro forma session until more members of the chamber return to the Capitol later in January.

"The Senate is not in recess and there's not a person on this earth that can argue that it is, including the leader of the Sena! te," Priebus continued.

Priebus's comments came at just about the same time that the White House acknowledged what it had been hinting at a day earlier: that Obama had the authority and would use it to appoint Cordray as head of the financial regulation agency through a recess appointment.