The notion that this administration is or will be tough on Wall Street doesn’t pass the laugh test, and that fact is evident in deeds, not tweets. Trump has put Goldman Sachs executives in the most senior positions in the government, and pushed for a giant tax cut for Wall Street.
Americans for Financial Reform joined a group of public interest advocates in support of Leandra English’s lawsuit to be recognized as the sole lawful Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
AFR sent a letter urging Senators to reject S 2155, which contains some two dozen deregulatory gifts to bank lobbyists and only minimal consumer benefits AFR Opposition Letter to S 2155
“Attempts to roll back this protection for consumers are nothing more than a sellout to the predatory payday lenders who want to continue to enrich themselves by trapping people in a painful cycle of debt. Congress should reject this and other attempts by payday lenders to undo a common sense rule based on the common sense principle of ability to repay.”
In the meantime, the CFPB still has work to do holding Wall Street to account on behalf of American consumers, and Ms. English and the CFPB staff can continue its successful run. Now, the president should nominate someone with a track record of fighting for consumers who will enjoy bipartisan support in the Senate.
Mulvaney has said he is opposed to the very existence of the CFPB, and as a member of Congress he voted in favor of Wall Street banks and predatory lenders — his largest donors — again and again. The CFPB has recovered $12 billion in ill-gotten gains on behalf people around this country. It is this work that the administration apparently wants to destroy
Congress should abandon budget rider proposal that would eliminate independent funding for the CFPB and other poison pills.
“[Director Cordray’s] departure will be ‘a huge loss,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. If Trump appoints a new director who is indifferent, or even hostile, to consumer issues, she said, ‘It will be incredibly costly to the American public.’”
“Trump and Republican lawmakers have long characterized Cordray as an enemy of the people — a bureaucrat run amok, imposing his autocratic will on gentle, kindhearted businesses that only want to compete freely and fairly for people’s patronage… ‘And people who don’t understand what the bureau does might believe that,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. ‘But if you describe the bureau’s work to people… they overwhelmingly support it.'”
“Following a Wall Street-induced financial crisis that cost millions of people their homes and jobs, the CFPB began its work as the first federal body with the mission and capacity to stand up for everyday Americans in their dealings with the financial services companies who have such an impact on our lives each and every day. Obtaining $12 billion in relief for over 29 million Americans is a great accompishment.”