FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: June 23, 2011

CONTACT: John Carey at 202-466-1854
john@ourfinancialsecurity.org

AFR Statement on Appropriations Committee Markup of FY 2012 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill

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

Lisa Donner, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform:

“The House Appropriations committee has just voted to slash funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and to dramatically undermine its independence by permanently subjecting it – alone amongst financial regulatory agencies – to the appropriations process. This will allow big Wall Street banks and other financial industry special interests to manipulate the budget to prevent the Bureau from doing its job of standing-up for consumers. And it will only increase taxpayer costs. Members who voted for this measure are defending Wall Street and the failed system that led to the financial crisis, and betraying the interests of their constituents back home. They are trying to turn the CFPB into a weak and timid agency, without the will or ability to curb the kind of financial abuses that caused the nation’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

This measure also deprives the Securities and Exchange Commission of the full funding it needs to effectively police Wall Street practices, and fulfill its new responsibilities under the financial reform law.”

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