We stand in solidarity with the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the millions of Black people subject to racial oppression, violence, and murder at the hands of the police and of white supremacists.
Today, the House Financial Services Committee completed a two-day markup of 25 bills, the bulk of which seek to undermine investor protections, threaten the securities market stability, and erode safety and soundness of the banking system. Much of the legislation advanced in these mark-ups fulfills specific recommendations by the extremist Project 2025.
Today, the House voted to rubber stamp bank mergers and accelerate the consolidation of the banking industry, harming depositors, small businesses, and communities. The vote is a giant gift to Wall Street banks and corporate monopolists. The repeal of this rule further threatens the stability of our banking and financial system and leaves families, communities, small businesses, and consumers more vulnerable to increased costs to access banking and financial services.
Americans for Financial Reform submitted a letter opposing several deregulatory measures considered at House Financial Services Committee capital formation and financial institutions markup. Weakening investor protections in the name of capital formation threatens market integrity and exposes smaller, retail investors to unnecessary risk.
The Senate voted to advance the GENIUS Act (S. 1582) for a full Senate vote, despite clear evidence that this legislation makes investors and consumers less financially secure, threatens to destabilize our financial system, and would legitimize Trump’s crypto grifts. Trump corruption led Democrats to oppose the legislation on May 8, but the bill has not meaningfully changed. And since then, more details have emerged about his family’s business.
Progressive groups, including Indivisible and Americans for Financial Reform, have been circulating petitions in opposition to the bill, and a new organization called Democracy Defenders Action, led by former White House counsel Norm Eisen, is warning senators to vote no.
Earlier this week, the Trump CFPB withdrew the agency’s previously proposed data broker rule, which would have limited how our sensitive and private financial data is collected, used, and sold. With little to no other regulation over data brokers, the withdrawal of this rule will allow companies to collect and sell our private and sensitive financial data to third party strangers without oversight or accountability.
AFR shared maps and statistics with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee prior to two hearings this month on the insurance crisis, which is compounded by climate change.
This week brought the big, brutal budget reconciliation bill into sharper focus as the Congressional Majority advanced tax cuts for the super-rich paid for by and severe cuts to healthcare and nutrition assistance through key committees. The combination of tax giveaways to those who need it least and benefit cuts slashing support for basic human needs t are a recipe for catastrophe for most of the country.
“Dropping cases like this against Heights Finance, where a predatory lender was picking the pockets of working class people, signals that it’s okay to pick on the little guy,” Zinner said.
Wall Street’s revolving door has spun more appointees from the private equity industry into the Trump administration than ever before. CEOs, founders, and even family members have been tapped to spearhead some of the very institutions that regulate or contract their own companies.
