FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      
DATE: December 8, 2011
                                    

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

AFR Statement on Filibuster of Cordray Nomination to lead the CFPB

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

Lisa Donner, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform:

“With this morning’s vote on General Cordray’s nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Senators faced a choice. Would they stand up for fair rules of the road in the consumer financial marketplace, or would they side with the big Wall Street banks, and the bottom feeders in the lending industry?

Unfortunately, 45 Senators chose the latter.  With unemployment still above 8.5%, and millions of foreclosures devastating families and communities, they chose to defend the status quo that allowed the deceptive and abusive lending at the heart of the financial crisis to flourish.  With people struggling to make ends meet in hard times, they chose to protect payday lenders making 300% ‘debt trap’ loans. Now they are on the record. We do not think their constituents will be pleased.

We are disappointed by today’s result, but it will only strengthen our resolve to make sure people outside of Washington understand what is happening here. American families need a strong independent CFPB with a director in place to effectively stand up to Wall Street and financial industry special interests.

The CFPB was created by Congress – debated, passed, signed in to law by the President – in the wake of the financial crisis because the system of financial regulation we had before failed. It failed – among other things – to stop clearly fraudulent and obviously unsustainable mortgage lending that devastated our communities and our economy. All involved agree that Rich Cordray is well qualified and highly suitable to lead the CFPB, a job that is so important to our economic security. Yet some Senators are taking the extreme step of demanding that the law be reopened and refusing to allow him an up or down vote in the Senate.  If they continue, we will urge the President to make a recess appointment.”

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