The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a financial sector watchdog, after years of partisan wrangling.

With the 66-34 vote, the Senate confirmed Cordray to head the CFPB, a federal agency created by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, funded by the Federal Reserve and tasked with protecting consumers with regard to financial products and services.

U.S. President Barack Obama made a recess appointment of Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, to lead the CFPB in January 2012 after Senate Republicans blocked his initial nomination. He renominated Cordray to the post on Jan. 24, 2013.

Cordray's confirmation means the CFPB will have the full authority to regulate nonbank firms such as payday lenders and debt collectors, according to local media.