A successful independent investigation into the failure of the Federal Reserve to prevent the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and the current banking crisis must have a broad scope and the authority to collect and make public the evidence from the probe, according to Americans for Financial Reform.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals today unanimously declared the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is constitutional, rejecting the Fifth Circuit Court’s ruling in CFPB v. CFSA and writing that it “cannot find any support” for the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in Supreme Court precedent.
“Increasingly, in the past — especially after the pandemic — we’ve seen this big surge in parents who are interested in providing other activities for their kids that they weren’t able to previously do. And so, as a result of that, we’ve seen much more money from the private equity industry go into childcare,” said Andrew Park, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform.
AFR joined a letter urging appropriators to make bold new investments in the Pell Grant program.
Washington, D.C. – President Biden vetoed a misguided Congressional Review Act resolution that sought to nullify a Department of Labor rule that protects workers and their life savings.
At the behest of a bank lobby that pumps billions into the political system, Congress in 2018 relaxed laws on mid-sized banks like Silicon Valley Bank, at a time when regulators appointed by former President Trump were already eager to go easier on banks. The signal could not have been clearer, and AFR warned so at the time.
President Biden’s and Congress’s efforts to begin to hold the executives of Silicon Valley Branch accountable are important to rein in the reckless and imprudent practices of senior bank executives, who have gamed our financial system and hurt communities in the process. True accountability includes executives forfeiting enormous bonuses, while their bank is on the brink of failure.
“It’s a wake-up call,” Renita Marcellin, advocacy and legislative director for Americans for Financial Reform, a financial-reform group in Washington, D.C. told USA TODAY. “Congress should be thinking and starting to figure out how to repeal this law.”
AFREF and the Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project led a comment letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about its uniform guidance, which sets the boundaries around the types of strings states and localities are allowed to attach when they disburse federal funds. This comment letter argues state and local governments should be allowed to give preferential treatment to bidders that commit to make productive investments in their companies and refrain from stock buybacks and excessive executive compensation.
Washington, D.C. – The swift demise of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the actions taken by the federal regulators over the weekend underscore the folly of the partial rollback of the Dodd-Frank law in 2018 and the need, looking forward, for strict oversight of large banks and the entirety of the financial system.