Exactly one year after the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law, the much anticipated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is open for business. The agency is part of the response to calls for much tougher oversight and will protect consumers by pursuing businesses that practice wrongful and abusive tactics.

The bureau’s chief architect, Elizabeth Warren, is a highly regarded consumer advocate who assembled a talented and dedicated team to build from scratch a consumer advocacy agency in the span of one year. Millions of Americans will benefit from the tremendous work she and her team has done to build this critical agency. The CFPB’s Office of Servicemembers Affairs is an especially important branch within the agency, whose mission is to ensure that our men and women in uniform will not have to deal with certain stresses while overseas, such as the wrongful foreclosures many soldiers and their families have unfortunately experienced.

Unfortunately, however, the agency is off to a rough start. Though President Obama named fierce consumer advocate Richard Cordray to head the agency, on its inaugural day, the CFPB is without an official director. Senate Republicans claim it could be for some time, as they block any nomination for the bureau’s top job and the House continues its work to dismantle—and if possible, even repeal—the Dodd-Frank Act.

This new consumer advocacy group is essential to the economic wellbeing of the American people and the nation as a whole. During these troublesome economic times, thousands of once, hardworking men and women struggle to find jobs, face foreclosures, and struggle to make ends meet. The CFPB cannot necessarily get them out of these unfortunate situations, but it can certainly protect them from the continued fraudulent and abusive practices of greedy corporations that got them into this mess.

Americans need someone who will stand up for them as they continue working to recover from this terrible economic mess. With talks of a possible “double-dip recession,” it is more important than ever that our leaders in Washington make it clear that they are on the side of the American people and willing to do whatever to protect consumers and put this country’s economy back on track.