AFR in the News Archives - Americans for Financial Reform

In The News: Elizabeth Warren Lost Her Dream Job but Gained a Path to 2020 (NYT)

It was no longer a lonely effort. Mr. Frank, a powerful committee chairman, was now an ally. So was an emerging coalition of progressive groups, labor unions and consumer advocates, known as Americans for Financial Reform. Ms. Warren sought out its leader, Heather Booth, for insight into political organizing. “She knew many of the players on the policy side,” Ms. Booth said. “What she hadn’t been experienced with were the politics.”

In The News: Mobile Home Affordability Threatened By Private Equity (Nonprofit Quarterly)

Private Equity Giants Converge on Manufactured Homes, a report released this year by three nonprofits—Manufactured Housing Action, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project and Americans for Financial Reform—maps this rapidly changing industry. The report notes, “The top 50 manufactured housing community owners own around 680,000 home sites. With more that 150,000 home sites, private equity firms and institutional investors now control a substantial portion of manufactured home communities.” Some of these firms have familiar names like Blackstone or Carlyle.

AFR In The News: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Top Six Dubious Accomplishments In 2018 (Talking Points Memo)

“The failure of Mulvaney’s CFPB to properly carry out the law, whether by failing to supervise companies or dropping cases that were underway is a green light for direct and immediate harm to ordinary Americans,” Carter Dougherty, communications director for Americans for Financial Reform, told TPM via email.

AFR in the News: Trump Asks SEC to Study Quarterly Earnings Requirements for Public Firms (NY Times)

“’Quarterly disclosures are very important. A lot can happen in six months, and it’s just not appropriate to reduce disclosures,’ said Marcus Stanley, the policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of foundations, unions and public interest groups that pushes for stronger financial regulation. ‘It’s just going to advantage insiders further.’”

AFR in the News: Congress to roll back post-crisis rules as banks post record profits (Washington Post)

“‘When lawmakers vote for banking deregulation even though banks are raking in record profits, it exposes what is really at work,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. ‘The bank lobby has flooded the political system with money, and is getting a return on its
investment. The result is legislation that makes the financial system less safe and less fair, and puts consumers at greater risk of abuse.’”

AFR in the News: Banks would be freer to trade for profit under Fed proposal (Virginian Pilot)

“‘The proposal ‘is an attempt to unravel fundamental elements of the response to the 2008 financial crisis, when banks financed their gambling with taxpayer-insured deposits,’ Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, said in a statement. ‘If implemented, these proposals could turn the Volcker Rule into a dead letter.'”

AFR in the News: Fed votes to scale back hated ‘Volcker Rule’ on Wall Street (NY Post)

“’What is critical is that simplification not undermine the core principle at stake — that taxpayer-supported banking groups, of any size, not participate in proprietary trading at odds with the basic public and customers’ interests,’ Paul Volcker said in a statement…

‘This proposal is no minor set of technical tweaks to the Volcker Rule, but an attempt to unravel fundamental elements of the response to the 2008 financial crisis, when banks financed their gambling with taxpayer-insured deposits,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform.”

AFR in the News: Progressives Ask Schumer to Pick Like-Minded Financial Watchdogs (Bloomberg News)

Unions, civil rights organizations and so-called netroots political activists all signed onto the letter, aligning with groups like the Consumer Federation of America and Americans for Financial Reform that typically monitor the agencies.

AFR in the news: Student debt hurts the whole economy. So why is Trump making the problem worse? (NBC THINK)

“Mulvaney dismantling the Office for Students is a move that deliberately makes life harder for America’s 44 million student loan borrowers. At a time when student borrowers need allies in government more than ever, Mick Mulvaney and the Trump Administration have left them out in the cold.”

AFR in the News: House Votes to Dismantle Bias Rule in Auto Lending (NY Times)

“‘“Companies will put millions of people into more expensive car loans simply because of the color of their skin,, said Rion Dennis, an advocate of financial overhaul at Americans for Financial Reform. ‘By using the Congressional Review Act to wipe out straightforward regulatory guidance, the congressional majority has also opened the door to challenging longstanding efforts to protect workers, consumers, civil rights, the environment and the economy.’”