Category Archives: Letters and Statements

News Release: Senate Pandemic Relief Bill Would Weaken Key Safeguard Against Financial Crisis

A provision inserted by Sen. Mike Crapo, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, would encourage Trump-appointed regulators, who have already sought to reduce the minimum amounts of their own risk capital that banks have to hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, to go further. Sen. Susan Collins, sponsor of the part of Dodd-Frank in 2010 that Crapo wants to gut, has already filed an amendment that would strike the part of Republican bill that would make this change. The Senate should follow her lead and preserve minimum statutory thresholds for bank capital.

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Letter to Regulator: Oppose Labor Department Retirement Advice Rulemaking Package

Together, these rules would put the retirement security of millions of American workers and retirees at risk by exposing them to conflicted retirement investment advice without adequate protections to limit the harmful impact of those conflicts of interest. We therefore urge you to withdraw the regulatory package in its entirety and to begin again on a rulemaking proposal that prioritizes protecting retirement savers from the toxic conflicts of interest that pervade the financial services industry.

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News Release: Private equity-backed nursing homes do worse during pandemic for residents and staff

Private equity-owned and -backed nursing homes had higher COVID-19 infection and fatality rates for residents, and those same facilities had a disproportionate share of the COVID-19 resident and staff cases and deaths relative to public, non-profit, and other for-profit nursing homes in New Jersey, according to a new report from Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF).

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Wall Street sign and a stoplight turned red - Photo by Roberto Júnior on Unsplash

News Release: CFTC Rule Dismantles Key Guardrail for Derivatives Market

Cross-border derivatives regulation is the latest area in which Trump appointees are systematically dismantling the post-2008 framework for regulation of Wall Street and the global “too big to fail” banks. Today, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission drastically weakened their rules governing the massive global markets for financial derivatives.

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students in graduation cap and gowns - Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

AFR Supports Rep. Alma Adams’ Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act

“Rep. Adams’ amendment gives borrowers a chance to recover on the same timeline the economy is projected to need to return to pre-coronavirus productivity. Granting the same CARES Act suspension of student loan payments to private student loan borrowers, and extending the suspension to September 2021 will mean more funds for food, medicine, and basic household needs.”

a student with books - Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

AFR Supports Rep. Madeline Dean’s Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act

“Rep. Dean’s amendment would put borrowers and their families on stronger financial footing and accelerate the economic recovery. Providing up to $10,000 in immediate assistance to pay down a private student loan offers much-needed and long-term relief to the 6 million private student loan borrowers who were left out of the CARES Act entirely.”

Statement: AFR Mourns Passing of Civil Rights Legend John Lewis

AFR joins the Civil Rights Movement and the nation in mourning the passing of John Lewis. We celebrate his leadership, his outsized contributions to the struggle for racial and economic justice – until the very end of his life – and his steadfastness in demanding and defending a more robust democracy. His work as a legislator with a strong moral compass advanced all these strands of work and highlighted the relationship between them all.

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