His statement, sent over by his office:

"I support President Obama's appointment today of Richard Cordray to head the CFPB. I believe he is the right person to lead the agency and help protect consumers from fraud and scams. While I would have strongly preferred that it go through the normal confirmation process, unfortunately the system is completely broken. If we're going to make progress as a nation, both parties in Washington need to work together to end the procedural gridlock and hyper-partisanship."

Other Senate and House Republicans have denounced Obama's recess appointment of Cordray as an act of tyranny and worse. Scott Brown's Massachusetts colleague, Mitt Romney, just released a statement calling the move "Chicago style politics at its worst."

Yet Scott Brown is now breaking decisively with his fellow Republicans, defending the recess appointment as necessary to break through partisan gridlock in order to "protect consumers from fraud and scams."