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Wall Street banks and financial interests have so far reported spending more than $1.2 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions, according to AFR’s updated “Wall Street Money in Washington” report. That works out to just under $1.8 million a day or an average of $2.3 million spent to elect or influence each of the 535 members of the Senate and House of Representatives.
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In a joint letter to Congress, Americans for Financial Reform and 340 organizations–state, local and national consumer groups, civil rights groups, faith-based groups, housing groups, labor unions and others–warn against efforts to “dismantle, weaken, or change the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”
AFR and 340 additional organizations sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to oppose any efforts to dismantle, weaken, or change the structure of the CFPB, which was established by Congress to ensure that markets work in an open, transparent, and fair way for consumers. Failure to appropriately regulate the consumer financial marketplace was a central cause of the financial crisis that devastated the U.S. and global economies; the CFPB is a shining success story of the efforts to correct the mistakes and close the gaps that led to that failure. The letter urges members of Congress to support the CFPB in fulfilling its consumer protection mission, rather than undermine it.
“As organizations that support strengthening protections for retirement savers, we write to thank you for sending a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to update and close loopholes in the 40-year-old rules that apply when individuals receive professional advice about retirement investments. Updating protections for retirement savers is urgently needed and long overdue.”
“President Barack Obama unveiled a significant retirement security proposal with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday, announcing plans to bolster retirement accounts by curbing conflicts of interest on Wall Street… Obama’s decision to put political capital behind a new rule has encouraged many financial reform advocates. ‘It makes sense, it’s right and it’s important,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform.”
President Obama came down squarely on the side of working families when he announced his support for reforms to establish a higher standard for investment advice. Developed and championed by the Department of Labor (DOL), these reforms will update a set of 40-year old rules governing those who give advice affecting the investment of money in employee retirement plans.
The seven organizations that launched the SaveOurRetirement.org campaign – AARP, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Americans for Financial Reform, Better Markets, Consumer Federation of America and Pension Rights Center – applauded President Obama’s public support today for the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rule to limit conflicts of interest, increase accountability, and strengthen protections for Americans receiving retirement investment advice.
In recent years, it has become more and more difficult for most people to save for retirement. At the same time, a great many hardworking Americans have missed out on tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential retirement savings by following the advice of financial professionals who, because of outdated rules, are allowed to put their own interests ahead of the interests of those they advise…
Today, more than 58,000 consumers across the nation sent a united message to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC): Do not allow robocalls to cell phones without our consent. The message came in the form of a petition from a coalition of national consumer groups, including the National Consumer Law Center, National Association of Consumer Advocates, Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumers League, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG.
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