Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank Are Welcomed at Watchdog Agency They Helped Create

The Dodd-Frank Act on financial regulation turns five on Tuesday, and it remains contentious. But if there is one place the Democratic authors of the legislation will always feel welcome, it is the offices of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal watchdog agency created by the law.

Former Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts and former Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut received a hero’s welcome at the agency’s headquarters on Monday afternoon as hundreds of employees packed a conference room to hear from them and to mark the creation of the bureau — one of the law’s most divisive elements.

“None of us would be here if not for them,” Richard Cordray, the agency’s director, told the assembled workers. He said that the 1,500 employees of the agency had so far handled 650,000 complaints about issues such as improper foreclosures and harassment by debt collectors.

Mr. Dodd and Mr. Frank, who have developed something of a road-show comedy act, expressed their appreciation for the work of the agency while acknowledging that it continues to draw critics.

“There are people obviously in Congress who very much wish you would go away,” said Mr. Frank, who credited the workers with not providing their foes with any political ammunition. “It is an eternal frustration to them that you haven’t screwed up at all.”

Mr. Dodd noted that at one point at the end of the legislative negotiations in 2010, House Democrats proposed reversing the names on the bill, but Mr. Frank opposed the idea, not liking the sound of Frank-Dodd.

Mr. Frank said he figured the public would “just think it is one guy.”

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