Americans for Financial Reform

Government Category: Advocacy Documents

Letter to Congress: AFR and Consumer Federation of America Urge Congress Not to Undermine Investor Protections

“We are writing in advance of this week’s mark-up to express our concerns regarding two of the bills scheduled for consideration – H.R. 2187, the Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act and H.R. 3784, the SEC Small Business Advocate Act. Both bills require significant amendments, described below, to ensure that they do not undermine essential investor protections. Unless those changes are adopted, we urge you to oppose these bills.”

Letter to Congress: Delaying the DoL Fiduciary Rule Would Cripple It

“We are writing to urge you to tell both your leadership and appropriators that you strongly oppose any rider that will directly or indirectly defund, delay or otherwise interfere with the Department of Labor’s ability to finalize its rule requiring retirement investment advice to be in the best interest of investors…. Every additional day of delay adds to the losses that working families and retirees suffer because of financial advice that is not in their best interests. We urge you to let both your leadership and appropriators know that you stand with your hard-working constituents who are doing their best to save for retirement—and against any rider that would diminish their efforts. “

Nominations: AFR, 6 Organizations Urge President Obama and Secretary Lew to Nominate Candidates Committed to Financial Reform to the CFTC

“We, the undersigned organizations, are writing regarding the current open seats for Commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It is vital that you nominate individuals who have both the publicly demonstrated commitment to financial reform and the financial markets expertise that is necessary to complete the implementation of crucial Dodd-Frank mandated reforms of our financial and commodity derivatives markets. “

Memo: Who Really Benefits From Senator Shelby’s Financial Deregulation Proposal?

“Earlier this year, Senate Banking Chair Richard Shelby introduced the “Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015” — a massive bill that gives a preview of the kind of regulatory rollbacks the financial industry will try to attach to end-of-year funding bills. In fact, Senator Shelby has already placed the entire bill into appropriations legislation that passed the relevant committee earlier this year.”

Letter to Regulators: AFR Calls on IRS to Close Tax Loopholes for Private Equity Firms

“The undersigned organizations are writing to provide comments to the Treasury Department (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) on the proposed regulations relating to disguised payments for services between private equity partnerships and partners under Section 707(a)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code. We strongly support the proposed regulations to close the loopholes in the tax code that permit private equity firms to lower their taxes by converting management fees, typically taxed as ordinary income, into capital gains. “

Letters to Congress: AFR, 30 Consumer Advocacy Groups Oppose Harmful Changes to Dodd-Frank, Oppose HR 1210

“The undersigned organizations write to urge you to oppose H.R. 1210 (the “Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act”). This bill makes two harmful changes to the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) and its implementing regulations: It takes a special exemption designed for more trustworthy small and rural banks and extends it to all banks, regardless of size or trustworthiness and it substantially weakens the Act’s ban on loan steering—a practice that supports predatory lending and racial discrimination.”