“We’ve got to have somebody in place,” Dodd said. Regardless of the outcome of the November election, there are people who will push to “get rid of” the consumer agency, and their task will be easier if the agency hasn’t gotten fully off the ground by then, Dodd predicted.

“So it’s at risk, in my opinion, until we get someone in running the place and demonstrating what it can do and the kind of rules it’s going to develop,” Dodd said.