By Emily Stephenson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three Democratic senators defended the new consumer watchdog on Wednesday and said Republicans who have vowed to block President Barack Obama's choice to lead the bureau would hinder its work protecting consumers from financial scams.

Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said Republicans oppose Richard Cordray's nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for political reasons and called for them to allow a confirmation vote.

The three serve on the Senate committee that oversees banks and the consumer bureau. Warren set up the consumer bureau after it was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law.

Obama recently nominated Cordray to a full term at the helm of the bureau, after using a procedural maneuver to name him as the head in January 2012.

"I'm new to the Senate, and I confess I don't get this," said Warren, who was elected in November. "We shouldn't have a system where more political stalemates just create more bad government."

In response to the nomination, 43 Republican senators vowed to block Cordray's confirmation unless the Obama administration agreed to change the CFPB's structure and funding.

"I'm new to the Senate, and I confess I don't get this," said Warren, who was elected in November. "We shouldn't have a system where more political stalemates just create more bad government."

The CFPB has been controversial since before it opened in July 2011. Republicans and business groups say the bureau has too much authority over a wide swath of financial products, including mortgages, credit cards and student loans, and too little oversight from lawmakers.

The Republican senators have said they would not confirm Cordray for a full term until Obama agrees to replace the director with a bipartisan board, subject the bureau to congressional appropriations rather than funding it through the Federal Reserve, and allow federal bank regulators to verify that any new consumer bureau rules would not harm banks' safety.

They had made the same demands in a 2011 letter.

Although an appeals court ruling last month on recess appointments did not directly name Cordray, he was appointed via the same procedure and experts said the same logic could be used to challenge his appointment.

The appeals court ruling found that certain recess appointments were unconstitutional because lawmakers were not technically in recess, but were meeting in short sessions with only a few members present. Continued...