WASHINGTON, D.C. -

Lawmakers want answers if discrimination is going on at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and they are leveraging legal tools to get them.

The U.S. House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Tuesday voted to subpoena two CFPB officials and a union representative as part of the subcommittee’s ongoing investigation into allegations of discrimination and retaliation at the bureau.

Members recapped that the CFPB and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) did not allow the officials to appear as witnesses at their subcommittee hearing on April 2. At that hearing, CFPB employee and whistleblower Angela Martin and Misty Raucci, an outside investigator hired by the CFPB, described a culture of racial and gender discrimination and retaliation against employees at the CFPB.

Lawmakers noted CFPB director Richard Cordray refused to allow Stacey Bach, assistant director of the office of equal employment opportunity, and Liza Strong, director of employee relations, to testify at the April 2 hearing.  A third official, Ben Konop, the executive vice president of the CFPB employees’ union, was also not allowed to testify by the union. 

All three individuals were subpoenaed.

“Unfortunately, the CFPB and the NTEU refused to provide the requested witnesses to testify at the April 2 hearing. And yet, we maintain it is imperative that we are able to question Ms. Bach, Ms. Strong and Mr. Konop,” said Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican.

“Through our investigation, it has become quite clear to this Subcommittee that they are the three individuals with the most knowledge of the disturbing treatment which women and minority employees were subjected to while at the bureau,” McHenry added.

According to officials, Bach and Strong have retained outside counsel to represent them in connection with the subcommittee’s investigation.

“It’s regrettable that director Cordray refused to allow these CFPB officials to testify at the April 2 hearing about what they know of the Bureau’s hostile work environment and the retaliation by managers when employees dare to complain," said Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas.

“For the sake of Angela Martin and other CFPB employees who are suffering, our investigation will move forward. All those engaged in this reprehensible behavior at the CFPB must be held accountable,” Hensarling continued.

Martin, the CFPB whistleblower who serves the CFPB as a senior enforcement attorney, told members of the subcommittee on April 2 that she is “a victim of discrimination by the Bureau dating back to May 2012, and I have suffered severe retaliation since December 2012 which continues through today. 

“Sadly, my story is not unique. My colleagues likewise have suffered and are suffering at the hands of inexperienced, unaccountable managers,” Martin went on to say.