AFR was among 25 organizations that signed-on to comments by the National Consumer Law Center on evaluating undue hardship claims in student loan bankruptcy. You can view or download the PDF here.
The need for strong public interest nominees is even greater today. This Administration has been
filling key regulatory positions with people pursuing Wall Street’s agenda at the public’s expense,
and the revolving door is spinning faster than ever. There is an enormous amount at stake at both
the SEC and FDIC as the financial industry and their friends in the Trump administration work to
undo the progress made in Dodd-Frank and to undermine key investor protection standards.
A new nationwide survey of likely 2018 voters in key battleground congressional districts reveals overwhelming, broad-based, and intense support for curbing big banks’ influence in Washington, including solid backing for a Financial Transaction Tax, especially if it’s referred to as a “sales tax”.
“Congress has done the right thing in allowing the rule to stand. Now the spotlight is on Mick Mulvaney. Will he move ahead on his plans to unravel it, and continue to cater to the payday lenders who gave generously to his campaigns?” said Lisa Donner, executive director at AFR.
Wall Street pumped $719 million into the political process in 2017, a rate that puts it on pace to outstrip the record $2 billion it spent during the 2015-2016 campaign cycle, according to a new report by Americans for Financial Reform.
Making the database public makes it more useful and more visible, which in turn makes it more likely to be used, and to provide more valuable information to the Bureau and the public about consumer financial services.
AFR sent a letter to the House opposing passage of HR 4566, which would eliminate stress testing of non-banks under Title 1 of the Dodd-Frank Act AFR floor oppo letter HR 4566
Bipartisan majorities in the House and the Senate chose to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression by handing the bank lobby a package of deregulatory gifts, increasing the risks to financial stability and the likelihood of consumer abuse, including racial discrimination in lending. This legislation, signed into law on May 24, won’t serve families or communities, nor is it policy that most people support. But Wall Street and its friends in Congress had a tougher time than they ever expected because Americans who know better refused to let the bill pass without a fight.
AFR’s senior policy analyst Alexis Goldstein joined Democracy Now! to discuss the dangers of S. 2155, a bill the Senate is considering that would encourage discrimination in lending, roll back rules on large U.S. and giant foreign banks, and make further bailouts more likely.