FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: September 6, 2011                                            

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

AFR Statement on Cordray Nomination Hearing in Senate Banking Committee

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:

“Richard Cordray has an excellent and balanced record of service in the public interest and he will make a strong and effective head for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  We urge the Senate to confirm him swiftly as Director, so that the CFPB can move full speed ahead in doing its job of  policing fair rules of the road for individuals and families as they navigate the financial marketplace.

Refusing to consider a nominee for Director of the Bureau unless the law is changed and the CFPB is weakened – as 44 Republican Senators have pledged to do – is simply standing in the way of consumer protection.

General Cordray has received enthusiastic support from a wide array of organizations and individuals in Ohio and across the country, ranging from community, faith based, and labor organizations, to business leaders, and law enforcement officials.  That support reflects both his remarkable record of public service, and the overwhelming support of the American public – across party lines – for strong, sensible oversight of the financial services industry, including a strong and independent CFPB.

Americans have not forgotten that deceptive and abusive mortgage lending – allowed to continue by the existing regulators – was a fundamental cause of the financial crisis, and of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Nor have they forgotten the costly tricks and traps in other consumer financial products that continue to take billions out of families pockets as they struggle to make ends meet in hard times. Delaying, or holding hostage, the confirmation of a Director for the CFPB may work well for Wall Street banks, and financial industry special interests, but it leaves the public at risk.”

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