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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. “

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AFR Statement: Historic Opportunity to End Predatory Payday Lending

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has come out with a proposal for the first federal regulation of small-dollar consumer loans. This rulemaking could help millions of people and be a breakthrough in the struggle to end the abuses of triple-digit-interest, debt-trap lenders. To realize that potential, however, the CFPB will have to address what appear to be a number of weaknesses in this iteration.”

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AFR in the News: Occupy movement has grown up — and looks to inflict real pain on big banks (Washington Post)

“The group, Take On Wall Street, plans to combine the efforts of some of the Democratic Party’s biggest traditional backers, from the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO to the Communications Workers of America. The group says it will aim to turn the public’s lingering anger at the financial sector into policy initiatives that could change the way that Wall Street works.”

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AFR in the News: Occupy Wall Street is back – and it might actually succeed this time (Salon)

“The banks are larger now than they were before the bailouts, and the stench of corruption persists. As Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, put it, ‘The tone of the election as reminded many people just how deeply felt the frustration and anger is about the way that Wall Street has shaped the economy in its own interest.’”

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AFR Statement: House appropriations bill would “use backdoor means to achieve unpopular ends”

“In what has almost become an annual ritual, the 2017 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill set for mark-up in the House of Representatives today is packed with policy riders that would loosen rules, weaken agencies charged with protecting the public interest, and make it easier for Wall Street banks, shadow banks, and predatory lenders to take advantage of consumers and investors.”

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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…”