Stacey Vanek Smith: Republicans in the Senate have blocked the nomination of Richard Cordray, President Obama’s pick to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That’s the latest setback for the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Now President Obama says he is considering a recess appointment.

From Washington, Marketplace’s David Gura reports.

David Gura: The Bureau is supposed to oversee mortgage brokers, payday lenders, student loan lenders.

Fred Rivera: Without a director, they’re unable to regulate and oversee those types of businesses.

That’s lawyer Fred Rivera, with Perkins Coie. He says right now, the Bureau has limited oversight. And that bothers President Obama.

Barack Obama: I will not take any options off the table when it comes to getting Richard Cordray in as director of the Consumer Finance Protection Board.

Rivera says agencies have been writing rules amid opposition.

Rivera: The disputes, I think, have been narrowed over the last months.

Opponents are targeting parts of Dodd-Frank, like derivatives regulation. And they’ve been grilling regulators on Capitol Hill. John Dugan, former comptroller of the Currency, says agencies have missed deadlines, but…

John Dugan: I think it is far less about the hearings and congressional oversight slowing things down, and more just the nature of the beast.

A law that’s hundreds of pages long — that requires regulators to write dozens of new rules.

In Washington, I’m David Gura for Marketplace.