When Donald Trump won the White House last year, critics of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau salivated over the prospect of the agency's director, Richard Cordray, being removed from office.

Nearly three months into Trump's term, Cordray is still in his seat, leaving many to wonder whether the new administration is, in fact, inclined to take on the politically and procedurally fraught task of firing the bureau's leader before his five-year term expires in July 2018. But Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee made clear Wednesday that they still want Cordray's head.

Republicans seized on their first chance chance to confront Cordray since the November election, stepping up their calls for the director to be fired or to step down willingly—perhaps to pursue his rumored interest in the Ohio governor's race. Cordray's appearance was also the first since an appeals court, ruling for the mortgage lender PHH Corp., said the CFPB's single-director scheme is unconstitutionally structured.