WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama today hailed Richard Cordray’s long-awaited confirmation as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying his installation gives consumers a stronger footing “for years to come” in dealings with banks and credit card companies.

Obama, the beneficiary of a Senate agreement Tuesday that cleared the way for a number of his nominations, said Cordray’s confirmation eliminates any lingering doubts about the authority of the consumer agency, whose creation was one of the key features of a 2010 financial regulation law and has long been a point of contention with Republicans.

Cordray’s confirmation and his swearing in by Vice President Joe Biden this morning culminate a drawn out fight between Obama on the one hand and the financial industry and GOP lawmakers on the other.

“For two years, Republicans in the Senate refused to give Rich a simple yes or no vote, not because they didn’t think he was the right person for the job, but because they didn’t like the law that set up the consumer watchdog in the first place,” Obama told an audience of about 60 people gathered in the White House’s State Dining Room.