If there was a surprise to be had during the Senate Banking Committee's confirmation hearing on Tuesday for Richard Cordray and Mary Jo White, nominees to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Securities and Exchange Commission respectively, it was how cordial the questioning was.

Cordray, in particular, was let off surprisingly easy, accruing plenty of praise for his professionalism, despite continued controversy over his initial recess appointment, questions of its constitutionality, and a pledge by 43 Republican senators to block his nomination.

Concerns were also diplomatically raised about White and whether her former job, defending large financial firms as a partner with the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, might present conflicts of interest. White said she has consulted with White House and SEC ethics advisors and would continue to do so to ensure no conflicts would be problematic.

Idaho Republican Mike Crapo was a bit more hard-hitting when he took issue with the Dodd-Franck Act's stipulation for director independence at the CFPB and that it draws funding directly from the Federal Reserve without Congressional oversight, debate, or approval. He complained that, in Fiscal Year 2012, the Bureau spent more than $150 million on contacts and support services, nearly half its budget and more than was spent on employees.

As its critics have done from the Bureau's infancy, Crapo advocated for legislation that would alter leadership from a single director to a board format, similar to how the SEC operates with bipartisan commissioners under a Senate-confirmed chairman. A restructured CFPB, he said, would be subject to the standard federal appropriations process.

Cordray, answering by saying he has worked to ensure that transparency and accountability are a priority. Despite the CFPB's independence in many areas, it is still subjected to audits by the Government Accountability Office, oversight by the Federal Reserve's Inspector General, and delivering semi-annual reports to both houses of Congress.

Cordray defended the Bureau's first year spending. “The reason why we had so much money in contracts, rather than personnel, in our first year was because we did not exist as an agency before that,” he said, explaining that much of the budget was paid to the Treasury Department in exchange for services, including “piggybacking” on its technology systems.

Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who helped create the CFPB and was a one-time contender to be its director, railed against the scrutiny the agency has faced .

“Every banking regulator since the Civil War has been funded outside the appropriations process, but unlike the consumer agency no one in the U.S. Senate has held up the confirmation of directors, demanding that those agencies be redesigned,” she said. “I see nothing here but a filibuster threat against Director Cordray as an attempt to weaken the consumer agency. The delay in getting him confirmed is bad for consumers, bad for small banks, credit unions and anyone trying to offer an honest product in an honest market.”

On other matters, Cordray detailed what he views as the CFPB's major accomplishments. Among them are mortgage market reforms to ensure “the excessive and irresponsible practices” that preceded the financial crisis are not repeated and new rules to “help struggling homeowners” be responsible borrowers and avoid foreclosure. Working with other regulators, credit card companies have been required to pay $425 million in restitution for misleading sales practices.

During her questioning, White pledged to expedite remaining rulemaking required by the Dodd-Frank Act and JOBS Act. She stopped short, however, of offering a timeline or intended priorities, citing the limitations of being “on the outside, looking in” until confirmed.

“Rulemaking the SEC is undertaking is truly daunting,” White said of Commission's full plate. “But these rules need to get out and I need to figure out what additional work streams need to be put in place to do that.”

In a separate response, White said that, despite a divided SEC on the matter, it should still have the final say on money market fund reforms, an effort that was pushed over to the Financial Stability Oversight Council by former SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro amid an impasse. She described it as “in the heartland of the SEC's expertise.”

White was far more forceful when asked whether some financial institutions were too large to prosecute because of their systemic importance. She cited enforcement as a “high priority" for her as chairman, adding, that “it must be fair, but it also must be bold and unrelenting.”

“I think you proceed quite vigorously against anyone you find evidence of wrongdoing on,” White later added. “At the SEC, collateral consequences are not taken into account before charging decisions are made. There is no institution too big to charge.”