Americans for Financial Reform

Government Category: Advocacy Documents

AFR Policy Director, Marcus Stanley, Testimony Before Small Business Committee

“Today’s hearing asks us to consider the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on small banks. I want to make two broad points. First, community banks face economic headwinds that are unrelated to Dodd-Frank, connected both to long-term trends and to the effects of the financial crisis itself. Second, the big picture is that community banks have returned to profitability under Dodd-Frank. In 2015, over 95% of community banks earned a profit – up from just 78% in 2010, the year Dodd-Frank was passed.”

Letter to Regulators: AFR Supports Strong Consumer Protections in FCC Robocalls Rule

Because of the significant harm caused by these robocalls from debt collectors, AFR is very supportive of the consumer protections proposed by the FCC in this rulemaking. The Commission has also proposed two other very important provisions that we think are good, but that need to be improved — including narrowing its limit of three allowable calls per month per loan to three calls per month per servicer.

Letter to Congress: AFR Opposes FSGG Appropriations Bill

“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), we are writing to oppose the current draft of the Appropriations bill on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG).
At the end of last year Congress wisely rejected multiple efforts to use the budget process to force through unrelated ideological riders, including changes in financial regulation that would undermine consumer protections, endanger financial security, and reduce accountability for large financial institutions. “

Letter to Congress: AFR Opposes Current Draft of FSGG Appropriations Bill

“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, we are writing to oppose the current draft of the Appropriations bill on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG)…Unfortunately, this appropriations legislation is once again loaded with ideological policy riders aimed at weakening Wall Street oversight…These ideological policy riders would weaken consumer and financial protections and should not in any case be attached to a funding bill. Even as a funding bill, this legislation falls short, as it cuts the SEC’s budget by $100 million…”

Letter to Congress: AFR Urges Congress to Maintain the Integrity of Financial Reporting, Reject HR 4139

“On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, we are writing to reiterate our opposition to HR 4139, the “Fostering Innovation Act”. This legislation would double the length of the existing exemption from compliance with Sarbanes Oxley Section 404(b) for “emerging growth companies”, from five years to ten years… Ten years is an excessively long exemption. This is especially true given the significance to the public and the financial markets of accurate financial reporting. “