Consumer protection bureau is under attack, but working

• Senate has delayed confirmation of agency head Richard Cordray for more than a year
• A new rule will require lenders to ensure that prospective borrowers can afford mortgage payments
• The agency offers electronic access to some of consumers%27 most common finance questions

Like many parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reform package, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has come under attack from critics.

But unlike other parts of the law, the attacks haven't stopped Washington's first agency exclusively devoted to protecting U.S. consumers from getting up and running.

Congressional Republicans are battling for congressional oversight of funding for the agency, and the Senate has delayed confirmation of agency head Richard Cordray for more than a year. Upper-chamber Republicans say President Obama improperly tried an end-run around their call for broadening the agency's sole-director leadership structure with appointment of a bipartisan board.

Obama named Cordray as the agency's first head in January 2012 at a time when the Senate wasn't conducting business but wasn't technically in recess. He reappointed Cordray again this year. The Supreme Court may ultimately decide the issue.

Texas GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, in April barred Cordray from delivering the agency's semi-annual report to the panel. Hensarling contended Cordray wasn't legally appointed, so couldn't testify.

Cordray, who can remain in his post for up to a year, professes a 'What, me worry?' attitude. "I don't think anything has pushed us off our track forward here," he said in a recent interview.

So far, that track has included enforcement actions that ordered mortgage insurers to pay $15 million in fines and halt kickback payments to mortgage lenders. The agency's referral to federal prosecutors resulted in criminal charges last month against a debt-settlement firm charged with victimizing more than 1,200 clients nationwide.

Starting in January, a new Dodd-Frank rule finalized by the agency will require lenders to ensure that prospective borrowers can afford mortgage payments before issuing home loans. The goal is to prevent lenders from letting would-be buyers take on too much debt, as thousands did before the financial collapse.

The agency offers electronic access, in English and Spanish, to some of consumers' most common questions about mortgages, credit cards, debt collection and other finance issues. Additionally, it created a database of more than 100,000 consumer complaints against banks, credit card and mortgage issuers and other types of businesses. Publicly identifying the companies in the data has won the agency few friends in the business world.

Neil Barofsky, the former special inspector general for the federal bailout fund, has given mixed reviews to other parts of Dodd-Frank. But in a recent interview, he called the consumer agency "a very good thing."

"It deals with consumer problems nationally in a very focused way that didn't exist before," Barofsky said.