AFR and 24 partners sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee opposing the FIRM Act. The bill purports to curb banking discrimination and enable equal opportunity to obtain financial services. But it would do nothing to prevent actual discrimination or improve access to financial services for people in protected classes.
Americans for Financial Reform along with 17 housing, consumer, civil rights, and labor organizations sent a letter urging the Senate Banking Committee to oppose the nomination of Bill Pulte to serve as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Mr. Pulte’s residential rental real estate investments and private equity background make him uniquely unsuited to lead the FHFA.
Americans for Financial Reform along with 23 consumer, civil rights, community, labor, faith-based, small business, farm, and other organizations sent a letter urging the Senate Banking Committee to oppose the nomination of Jonathan McKernan to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB’s Director should preserve the Bureau’s integrity, capacity, and independence and stand up against capricious and unlawful efforts to defund, dismantle, or diminish the agency. Jonathan McKernan fails to meet these standards.
AFR submitted a statement for the record hearing that challenges the notion of so-called de-banking, which is really a red herring to obscure the real risks from reckless speculation, egregious self-dealing, or illegal and harmful financial transactions by the companies that complain.
AFR submitted a Statement for the Record to the House Financial Services Committee to oppose both the resolution of disapproval of the CFPB’s overdraft fee rule as well as the legislative proposals that would repeal or weaken the small business and farm lending transparency rules. These proposals will hurt everyday people, including consumers and their families, as well as small business owners and farmers and the communities they serve.
View or download a PDF of the letter here. Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen joined exactly 70 labor, community, consumer, environmental, and public interest organizations sent a letter urging the U.S. Senate to reconfirm Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Commissioner
Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen along with 77 organizations and labor unions that advocate for racial, social, economic, and climate justice, wrote to urge Senate Majority Leader Schumer to confirm pending nominees for financial regulators and independent agencies like the National Labor Relations Board.
Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen along with 50 organizations that advocate for racial, social, economic, and climate justice, wrote to urge Senate Majority Leader Schumer to confirm pending nominees for financial regulators and independent agencies like the National Labor Relations Board.
AFR and consumer, community, small business, and farm advocates sent a letter to the House Oversight and Accountability urging them to oppose legislation that aims to privatize federal loan guarantee programs. This measure would be a big win for Wall Street but reduce access, raise costs, and exacerbate racial gaps in homeownership rates, small business formation, and family farm viability.
AFR joined nearly 80 environmental and public interest advocates calling on Majority Leader Schumer to prevent the consideration of deeply flawed crypto legislation being discussed in the Senate Agriculture Committee because it would worsen climate emissions. Crypto is highly energy intensive and has already buoyed fossil fuel power plants, extraction, and climate emissions.