Public pensions hold trillions of dollars of workers’ capital — wages earned by teachers, firefighters, nurses, and public workers who keep our society running. But this money is under attack.
Today, the Private Equity Climate Risks (PECR) data consortium project launched an asset tracker with new data reflecting the state of private equity energy investments as of April 2025. This enhanced Global Energy Tracker includes the previous Global Energy Company Tracker, updated in January 2025, and the new Global Fossil Fuel Asset Tracker, providing an unparalleled look into the private equity industry’s role in the energy sector.
View or download a PDF of the letter here. Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund submitted a statement for the record for a hearing held by the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee titled “Investing for the Future: Honoring
In its first 100 days, the Trump administration moved aggressively to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), leaving the public vulnerable to predation by Wall Street, Big Tech, and predatory lenders, and satisfying the financial industry’s desire to operate without oversight. Elon Musk declared war on the CFPB, and the Republican-majority in Congress has largely aligned with the administration’s efforts to tear apart the CFPB.
Proposals from the House Financial Services Committee majority for budget reconciliation would defund and dramatically erode the effectiveness of key financial regulators under the pretense of generating budgetary savings as part of the House majority’s broader plan to pay for tax cuts for the very richest families, biggest business, and Wall Street firms. The real intention is to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the other agencies designed to reduce the likelihood and severity of future financial crises.
View or download a PDF of the letter here. Americans for Financial Reform and 348 other consumer, civil rights, labor, legal services and community organizations, and academics wrote to urge Congress to demand action to restore a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
“All the defenders of the carried interest loophole are saying is that if you don’t let us get richer, we will not serve low-income communities, which is not an argument so much as it is extortion,” said Caroline Nagy, a housing policy specialist at Americans for Financial Reform.
The Business Roundtable’s most recent diatribe against a modest shareholder check on the power of corporate boards and executives came just in time for Tuesday’s House Financial Services Committee hearing on proxy advisors — firms that provide research and proxy voting recommendations to shareholders.
Another Musk/Big Tech giveaway occurred this week as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its case against PayPal for skirting prepaid card rules that apply to gift cards and re-chargeable payment apps.
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander announced standards by which he will evaluate the net zero plans of the asset managers that oversee the city’s pension assets. He will recommend the boards of trustees of the city’s pensions pursue other asset management options through a bidding process should some of their current asset managers fail to meet those standards.