Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2013
Floor Speech
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Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gen tle lady for yielding and for her hard work on the Financial Services Committee.
I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3193, which is a blatantly partisan assault on the CFPB and on American consumers.
I think it is telling that just 4 months after the first government shutdown in 17 years, the Republicans want to remove the CFPB's independent source of funding and subject it to Congress' deeply dysfunctional appropriations process.
It is telling because it exposes the true purpose of this bill. It is not to make the CFPB more accountable, but rather to undermine, defund, and hinder its ability to act to protect consumers in every possible way.
The dysfunction that led to last year's 16-day shutdown is exactly why we gave the CFPB an independent source of funding in Dodd-Frank. We wanted to insulate the CFPB from the political games and partisan brinksmanship that, unfortunately, became a staple of the appropriations process.
Another key reason for creating the CFPB was to make sure that we have at least one regulator whose sole purpose is protecting consumers. Prior to the financial crisis, consumer protection had, unfortunately, become an afterthought of the banking regulators whose primary mission was protecting the safety and soundness of the banks, but not consumers.
When Congress created the CFPB, the whole point was to create a regulator whose sole focus would be to protect consumers. The reason Congress did this was that, prior to the financial crisis, consumers were an afterthought, a secondary thought, a third thought, or usually not even thought about at all. So it was a huge step forward to have a department that was focused on protecting consumers from new products that were harmful and from innovations that were not tested that were harmful to the consumers and the economy as a whole, which led to the financial crisis.
This was a huge step forward for consumers when it was created. Unfortunately, this bill before us today is a huge step backwards because it would give the safety and soundness regulators more authority to veto the CFPB's consumer protections in the name of bank profits--just like in the old days. Let's remember that, in just its first 2 1/2 years, the CFPB has already made huge strides on a number of important consumer protections--from new mortgage protections to credit cards to payday lending.
An independent source said the credit card bill of rights that was supported by the CFPB saves consumers $20 billion a year. That is a huge step forward for consumers, and the Bureau has been willing to make sensible changes when it has needed to. Last year, the Bureau adopted amendments to the CARD Act that would allow stay-at-home spouses to take out credit cards in their own names. This was a commonsense fix for an unintended problem for stay-at-home spouses who were creditworthy, and they made the decision so that they were able to get these credit cards. That is a huge step forward, and I worked with Mrs. Capito on it from across the aisle. The Bureau continues to work hard to develop consumer safeguards in rapidly growing areas, such as prepaid cards and overdraft protection, both of which many Members on both sides have a keen interest in seeing going forward.
In short, the CFPB's work has already made the lives of American consumers and our constituents better on a day-to-day basis. This bill would undermine these results, and it would weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, so I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose the bill.
I would like to place in the Record independent organizations--literally well over 100--that are in support of the CFPB and that are in opposition to this bill. They are good government groups, credit groups, individual legislators, and local and State partners, all of whom are in opposition to the bill that undermines the work of the CFPB, which is there to protect consumers.
Following Are the Partners of Americans for Financial Reform.
All the organizations support the overall principles of AFR and are working for an accountable, fair and secure financial system. Not all of these organizations work on all of the issues covered by the coalition or have signed on to every statement.
AARP; A New Way Forward; AFL-CIO; AFSCME; Alliance For Justice; American Income Life Insurance; American Sustainable Business Council; Americans for Democratic Action, Inc.; Americans United for Change; Campaign for America's Future; Campaign Money; Center for Digital Democracy; Center for Economic and Policy Research; Center for Economic Progress; Center for Media and Democracy; Center for Responsible Lending; Center for Justice and Democracy; Center of Concern; Center for Effective Government; Change to Win; Clean Yield Asset Management.
Coastal Enterprises Inc.; Color of Change; Common Cause; Communications Workers of America; Community Development Transportation Lending Services; Consumer Action; Consumer Association Council; Consumers for Auto Safety and Reliability; Consumer Federation of America; Consumer Watchdog; Consumers Union; Corporation for Enterprise Development; CREDO Mobile; CTW Investment Group; Demos; Economic Policy Institute; Essential Action; Green America; Greenlining Institute; Good Business International; HNMA Funding Company.
Home Actions; Housing Counseling Services; Home Defender's League; Information Press; Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; Institute for Global Communications; Institute for Policy Studies: Global Economy Project; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Institute of Women's Policy Research; Krull & Company; Laborers' International Union of North America; Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Main Street Alliance; Move On; NAACP; NASCAT; National Association of Consumer Advocates; National Association of Neighborhoods; National Community Reinvestment Coalition; National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients); National Consumers League.
National Council of La Raza; National Council of Women's Organizations; National Fair Housing Alliance; National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions; National Housing Resource Center; National Housing Trust; National Housing Trust Community Development Fund; National NeighborWorks Association; National Nurses United; National People's Action; National Urban League; Next Step; OpenTheGovernment.org; Opportunity Finance Network; Partners for the Common Good; PICO National Network; Progress Now Action; Progressive States Network; Poverty and Race Research Action Council; Public Citizen; Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law.
SEIU; State Voices; Taxpayer's for Common Sense; The Association for Housing and Neighborhood Development; The Fuel Savers Club; The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; The Seminal; TICAS; U.S. Public Interest Research Group; UNITE HERE; United Food and Commercial Workers; United States Student Association; USAction; Veris Wealth Partners; Western States Center; We the People Now; Woodstock Institute; World Privacy Forum; UNET; Union Plus; Unitarian Universalist for a Just Economic Community.
List of State and Local Partners
Alaska PIRG; Arizona PIRG; Arizona Advocacy Network; Arizonans For Responsible Lending; Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development NY; Audubon Partnership for Economic Development LDC, New York NY; BAC Funding Consortium Inc., Miami FL; Beech Capital Venture Corporation, Philadelphia PA; California PIRG; California Reinvestment Coalition; Century Housing Corporation, Culver City CA; CHANGER NY; Chautauqua Home Rehabilitation and Improvement Corporation (NY); Chicago Community Loan Fund, Chicago IL; Chicago Community Ventures, Chicago IL; Chicago Consumer Coalition; Citizen Potawatomi CDC, Shawnee OK; Colorado PIRG; Coalition on Homeless Housing in Ohio; Community Capital Fund, Bridgeport CT; Community Capital of Maryland, Baltimore MD; Community Development Financial Institution of the Tohono O'odham Nation, Sells AZ.
Community Redevelopment Loan and Investment Fund, Atlanta GA; Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina; Community Resource Group, Fayetteville A; Connecticut PIRG; Consumer Assistance Council; Cooper Square Committee (NYC); Cooperative Fund of New England, Wilmington NC; Corporacion de Desarrollo Economico de Ceiba, Ceiba PR; Delta Foundation, Inc., Greenville MS; Economic Opportunity Fund (EOF), Philadelphia PA; Empire Justice Center NY; Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP), Cleveland OH; Enterprises, Inc., Berea KY; Fair Housing Contact Service OH; Federation of Appalachian Housing; Fitness and Praise Youth Development, Inc., Baton Rouge LA; Florida Consumer Action Network; Florida PIRG; Funding Partners for Housing Solutions, Ft. Collins CO; Georgia PIRG; Grow Iowa Foundation, Greenfield IA; Homewise, Inc., Santa Fe NM.
Idaho Nevada CDFI, Pocatello ID; Idaho Chapter, National Association of Social Workers; Illinois PIRG; Impact Capital, Seattle WA; Indiana PIRG; Iowa PIRG; Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; JobStart Chautauqua, Inc., Mayville NY; La Casa Federal Credit Union, Newark NJ; Low Income Investment Fund, San Francisco CA; Long Island Housing Services NY; MaineStream Finance, Bangor ME; Maryland PIRG; Massachusetts Consumers' Coalition; MASSPIRG; Massachusetts Fair Housing Center; Michigan PIRG; Midland Community Development Corporation, Midland TX; Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation, Detroit Lakes MN; Mile High Community Loan Fund, Denver CO; Missouri PIRG; Mortgage Recovery Service Center of L.A.
Montana Community Development Corporation, Missoula MT; Montana PIRG; New Economy Project; New Hampshire PIRG; New Jersey Community Capital, Trenton NJ; New Jersey Citizen Action; New Jersey PIRG; New Mexico PIRG; New York PIRG; New York City Aids Housing Network; New Yorkers for Responsible Lending; NOAH Community Development Fund, Inc., Boston MA; Nonprofit Finance Fund, New York NY; Nonprofits Assistance Fund, Minneapolis M; North Carolina PIRG; Northside Community Development Fund, Pittsburgh PA; Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, Columbus OH; Ohio PIRG; OligarchyUSA; Oregon State PIRG; Our Oregon; PennPIRG; Piedmont Housing Alliance, Charlottesville VA; Michigan PIRG; Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, CO; Rhode Island PIRG.
Rural Community Assistance Corporation, West Sacramento CA; Rural Organizing Project OR; San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority; Seattle Economic Development Fund; Community Capital Development; TexPIRG; The Fair Housing Council of Central New York; The Loan Fund, Albuquerque NM; Third Reconstruction Institute NC; Vermont PIRG; Village Capital Corporation, Cleveland OH; Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; Virginia Poverty Law Center; War on Poverty--Florida; WashPIRG; Westchester Residential Opportunities Inc.; Wigamig Owners Loan Fund, Inc., Lac du Flambeau WI; WISPIRG.
Small Businesses
Blu; Bowden-Gill Environmental; Community MedPAC; Diversified Environmental Planning; Hayden & Craig, PLLC; Mid City Animal Hospital, Phoenix AZ; UNET.
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