Hundreds of companies owned or backed by some of the most well financed private equity firms in the US secured an estimated $5.3 billion in public funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), reveals a new investigation published today.
This study estimates that at least $5.3 billion in CARES Act money went to 611 portfolio companies owned or backed by private equity firms that held $908 billion in cash reserves.
Today, the House Ways and Means committee released its draft plan for the Build Back Better economic package. It includes many crucial spending items, and some positive tax provisions. But, overall, it fails to meet the moment. Among other things, the package leaves out revenue-raising proposals from the Biden administration that would advance racial and economic justice. We need more dramatic change to the status quo, which benefits Wall Street and the super-rich and harms the rest of us.
AFREF joined a letter to the Education Department (ED) in response to their interpretation on federal and joint federal-state regulation and oversight of ED’s federal student loan programs and federal student loan servicers.
AFR joined a letter to Congress urging support for tax proposals to rein in CEO Pay while investing in our recovery.
AFREF joined a letter to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in response to their request for comment on their Proposal for Identifying and Managing Bias within Artificial Intelligence.
Dear President Biden,
We are deeply concerned by the lack of progress being made by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (the Fed) on the assessment and mitigation of climate risk in the financial system. The Fed has failed to take proactive measures to address the risks that banks and the financial system face from climate change. This must change.
AFREF and 6 organizations sent a letter to the Federal Reserve Board expressing support for the development of the FedNow Service, the FRB’s real time payments system, and urging the Fed to build sufficient consumer protections into the system so that consumers and small businesses can safely use the system.
AFREF joined our colleagues in sending a letter to the Federal Reserve urging the inclusion of essential consumer protections in the rules and design of the FedNow service, the Federal Reserve’s real time payment system.
AFREF joined several other civil rights, consumer advocacy and housing organizations in sending a letter a comment letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) in response to their request for comment on their Policy Statement on Fair Lending (“Policy Statement”). The letter emphasizes that FHFA’s fair lending oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must ensure access to mortgage credit on fair terms for all creditworthy borrowers, regardless of their race, gender, national origin, disability, familial status, or other protected characteristics, which is essential to closing the homeownership and wealth gaps created by exclusionary federal housing policies and ongoing discrimination in the housing marketplace.