Washington, DC – Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of more than 250 national and state organizations working together for strong financial reform, issued the following statement today:

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was created in the wake of the monumental financial crisis and recession caused by reckless Wall Street bank practices. Recent attempts to undermine the CFPB’s authority and budget are simply smoke screens to conceal the real motivations of protecting Wall Street.

The CFPB is the first federal agency with only one job – protecting consumers in the financial marketplace – and undermining the CFPB would stand in the way of it being able to:

• Examine the biggest banks to ensure they are following overdraft, credit card and mortgage rules.
• Repair the inadequate financial supervision that failed taxpayers, depositors, investors, homeowners and other consumers.
• Create fair rules of the road for financial products and protect consumers slammed by unfair practices.

The American public overwhelmingly supports Wall Street Reform, but instead of hearings focused on protecting consumers, Wall Street supporters want to return to a status quo that cost Americans millions of jobs, billions in taxpayer funded bailouts, and trillions of dollars in lost home values and retirement savings.

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