Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Office of the Comptroller of Currency Relating to ``National Banks and Federal Savings Associations As Lenders''

Floor Speech

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Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership in bringing this important legislation, more than one piece of legislation, to the floor today.

As I rise to speak in support of reversing the anti-consumer fake lender rule pushed through in the final weeks of the previous administration, I just want to take a moment to put it in perspective.

Madam Speaker, in November, the people elected Democratic majorities in the Congress that would be for the people, fighting for the public interests, not the special interests.

To that end, they elected majorities that would reverse the damage inflicted on their health and financial security by the last administration.

That mission is why the House this week is passing legislation under the Congressional Review Act to reverse three of the past President's most egregious assaults on families' well-being.

The Congressional Review Act is one of Congress' most important tools to reassert the power of the people's House to deliver for the people and to reclaim our authority under the Constitution, upholding the balance of powers that is the foundation of our American democracy.

With the gentlewoman's permission, I wish to speak to the anti- consumer fake lender rule, but also speak to two other issues under the Congressional Review Act this afternoon.

On the floor today is legislation, again, to reverse the anti- consumer fake lender rule pushed through in the final weeks of the previous administration.

This fake lender rule greenlights rent-a-bank schemes in which predatory lenders evade bank interest rate limits to swindle vulnerable consumers. This is done by putting a bank name on loan paperwork and claiming that the bank, not the predatory lender, issued the loan.

To take one example, in California, where the interest rate on a 2- year $2,000 loan is capped at 25 percent, lenders can use rent-a-bank partnerships to make loans with rates up to 225 percent.

This bipartisan resolution to end the fake lender rule is supported by many: a bipartisan coalition of 25 State attorneys general; faith leaders, including the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Baptist Convention USA, hundreds of banking law and consumer finance regulation scholars, and Americans across the country and across parties, urging us to support this Congressional Review Act reversal of the anti-consumer fake lender rule.

Also today, we are considering legislation to undo the antiworker, pro-discrimination rule forced through in the final week of the past administration.

The EEOC was established to protect working people from discrimination and ensure that discrimination charges are resolved fairly. But this rule would impose draconian new obligations that bias the conciliation process against employees, toward employers; escalate the potential for retaliation, because retaliation claims make up half of EEOC's charges filed at the EEOC last year; siphon off scarce EEOC resources and saddle the EEOC with wasteful collateral litigation, prolonging harm to workers through delays; and contravene both the Supreme Court precedent and Congressional intent.

This month, civil rights and workers' rights organizations wrote to Congress in support of S.J. Res. 13, writing: ``The EEOC must be able to conduct its work efficiently . . . to prevent and remedy workplace discrimination.

``This mission is even more critical in the middle of a global pandemic that continues to have severe economic repercussions for women, people of color, and other marginalized communities.

``The final rule will only deepen the barriers working people face coming forward to report discrimination and obtain justice.''

This Congressional Review Act legislation passed the Senate. Hopefully, it will pass the House today.

Finally, tomorrow we take up bipartisan legislation that paves the way to restore the Obama-era protections against harmful methane pollution, which the most recent past President rolled back.

Briefly, these safeguards are key protections for public health that will also make a serious difference in combating the climate crisis. Methane is responsible for at least one-quarter of the warming of the planet. And it is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere.

This resolution passed on a bipartisan basis in the Senate and in the Energy and Commerce Committee. It builds on the commitment of the President and the Democratic Congress to tackle the climate crisis.

As the administration has stated, addressing methane pollution is an urgent and essential step.

Madam Speaker, with that, as Speaker, I am proud to be able to use the Speaker's prerogative to speak beyond the item on the floor right now.

I am proud to support these important actions to reverse the Trump damage and to deliver results that make a difference in the lives of hardworking American families.

I thank all of our leaders for this legislation for the people: Chair Bobby Scott and Representative Suzanne Bonamici on the EEOC resolution; Representative Chuy Garcia for his work on the true lender resolution; Representative Diana DeGette and Chairman Frank Pallone, and many others, on the methane resolution from the Energy and Commerce Committee.

I urge strong votes for S.J. Res. 13, 14, and 15.

Coming back to the resolution on the floor right now, I thank the distinguished chair of the Financial Services Committee for her leadership in looking out always for the consumer, for competition, for fairness, for the people.

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