**Audio of Call Available Here**
Washington, DC – Americans for Financial Reform and our 250 coalition partners applaud the Senate for rejecting – on a bipartisan basis – the sham that was Sen. Shelby’s “consumer” amendment to the Wall Street accountability currently being debated in the U.S. Senate.
“By putting forth this sham proposal, Sen. Shelby has shown his hand and proven once and for all that he has never had any intention of supporting tough, new rules to protect consumers and head off the kinds of sleazy practices that enabled this financial crisis,” said director of Americans for Financial Reform Heather Booth. “We recognize this is just the beginning of the onslaught to water down the strong consumer protections in the bill. We will fight each and everyone to ensure Americans are protected against abusive practices from credit card companies and mortgage lenders.”
“The economic crisis made clear that we need a consumer agency in Washington with enough independence and teeth to rein in the big banks,” Professor Elizabeth Warren added in a statement. “While I would prefer to see Congress create a stand-alone consumer agency, Chairman Dodd’s proposal for a strong and independent consumer bureau housed at the Federal Reserve still passes the test. The failed proposal to put the consumer department directly under the thumb of bank regulators and to strip down its enforcement powers was little more than an attempt to paper over the problems that led to this crisis. The bank lobbyists loved it, but it would have left American families with nothing. Over the next week, Senators will continue to face tough votes between papering over the problem and protecting families.”
“This bill establishes an independent consumer watchdog that is independent of the banks and was not under the thumb of the failed existing regulators with adequate funding and staff. It had to have the ability to set the rules and enforce them. We are thrilled the Senate voted to this independence intact,” said Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director, U.S. PIRG. “With Big bank lobbyists spending $1 million per member of Congress and $1.4 million a day to kill these reforms, we will take every threat to weaken this bill seriously.”
“We are pleased the Senate rejected the idea of giving a veto for consumer protections to the same bank regulators who have failed for years to protect consumers. We will continue to push against any loopholes that threaten to undermine consumer protections in this bill,” said Mike Calhoun, President of the Center for Responsible Lending.
“Like all Americans, Latino families rely on financial tools to help them climb the ladder to the middle class,” said Janis Bowdler, Deputy Director of the Wealth-Building Policy Project at National Council of La Raza. “Unfortunately, deceptive lenders and abusive loans are pushing many of our families deeper into debt which is why we support the creation of a strong consumer protection agency. Today, the Senate took a step in the right direction by rejecting this attempt to weaken the safeguards the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in S. 3217 provides. We will continue to fight against other efforts to dilute consumer protection, especially when it comes to special interests in search of a carve out.”