razoo » 13 Jun 2022, 9:23 am » wrote: ↑
Elizabeth Warren was the first member of her family to graduate from college, eventually earning her law degree from Rutgers University. After teaching law at several universities, Warren was selected to lead the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. In 2008, she headed the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Warren spent most of her early life on what she referred to as "the ragged edge of the middle class."
A brilliant student, Warren became a state debate champion and graduated high school at the age of 16. That same year, she entered George Washington University on a full debate scholarship. She finished her degree in speech pathology at the University of Houston, becoming the first member of her immediate family to graduate from college.She headed to graduate school to study law at Rutgers University. She earned her J.D. in 1976, and practiced law from her home, becoming known for her scholarly expertise in bankruptcy law.
She began exploring the economic pressures facing the American middle class, looking specifically at a 1978 law passed by Congress that made it easier for companies and individuals to declare bankruptcy. Warren decided to investigate the reasons why Americans were ending up in bankruptcy court, and discovered that most of the financial victims were from middle-class families who had lost jobs, experienced financial hardship from a divorce or suffered illnesses that decimated their savings.
From then on, Warren would focus her research on bankruptcy and commercial law—specifically on how it affected financially distressed companies, women, the elderly and the working poor.
Warren was asked to advise the new National Bankruptcy Review Commission. During Warren's time as chief adviser, she testified against Congressional efforts to limit consumers' ability to file for bankruptcy. Despite her best efforts, the related bill passed in 2005. It was considered a victory for the business lobby and a defeat for Warren.
In November 2008, Warren was tapped by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to chair the Congressional Oversight Panel, which was created to monitor the $700 billion bank bailout effort known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program(TARP). Warren headed investigations, conducted televised public hearings, led interviews of government officials and submitted monthly reports demanding accountability from banks. For her efforts, the Boston Globe named Warren "Bostonian of the Year" in 2009.
On September 17, 2010, President
Barack Obama appointed Elizabeth Warren Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In her roles, she helped design the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. The main goal of the CFPB was to police credit lenders and prevent consumers from unwittingly signing up for risky loans.
However, due largely to Republican opposition, Warren was not chosen to head the agency, and she stepped down from the post in August 2011.