WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told lawmakers on Tuesday that he will begin the process of bringing Rohit Chopra’s nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the floor for a vote. In his remarks, Schumer praised Chopra as having a long history of defending middle class people from financial institutions and students from for-profit colleges. Chopra is currently on the Federal Trade Commission. His departure would leave the five-member body with two Democrats and two Republicans; three members of the commission must support a proposal for it to go forward. Privacy advocate Alvaro Bedoya has been nominated to replace him. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee tied 12-12 on Chopra’s nomination to the CFPB in March. He had been unanimously confirmed in 2018 to be an FTC commissioner. Progressives see both financial regulators as key to advancing policy directives around climate change and racial justice. The CFPB has been a political lightning rod since it was created following the 2009 financial crisis, beloved by Democrats as a guardian of ordinary Americans but reviled by Republicans as too powerful and unaccountable. (Reporting by Diane Bartz and Pete Schroeder Editing by Marguerita Choy)