AFR submitted a statement for the record for the House hearing on the 15-year record of the Dodd-Frank Act, which Congress passed to reduce the likelihood and severity of future financial crises and to protect people from financial predation and it has made a difference. Congress and financial regulators should be building on the pieces it put in place, not rolling them back.
AFR and 67 community, civil rights, consumer, civic, and other organizations urged members of the House Financial Services Committee to oppose a slew of bills that would undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) structure, funding, independence, and undermine the Bureau’s ability to protect people from financial harm, fraud, and scams.
The giveaways to private equity firms subsidize predatory and extractive practices that harm workers, families, and communities. At the same time, the big, brutal bill dismantles critical agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, making people more vulnerable to scams, rip-offs, and junk fees.
The Wall Street investor class benefits from tax breaks and lax oversight in the Big Brutal reconciliation bill. The legislation guts consumer protections and eliminates critical programs that people rely upon just to enrich billionaires and Wall Street tycoons. The Senate has other options that would avoid slashing basic support for working families.
The House majority has just chosen to prioritize Wall Street and billionaires over everyday people by advancing legislation that would strip away funds for healthcare and nutrition to give big corporations and the super-rich tax breaks. Adding insult to injury, they also voted to make people’s lives harder and less secure by giving Wall Street, big banks, and abusive financial companies free rein to fleece the rest of us.
Today, the House Financial Services Committee completed a two-day markup of 25 bills, the bulk of which seek to undermine investor protections, threaten the securities market stability, and erode safety and soundness of the banking system. Much of the legislation advanced in these mark-ups fulfills specific recommendations by the extremist Project 2025.
The Senate voted to advance the GENIUS Act (S. 1582) for a full Senate vote, despite clear evidence that this legislation makes investors and consumers less financially secure, threatens to destabilize our financial system, and would legitimize Trump’s crypto grifts. Trump corruption led Democrats to oppose the legislation on May 8, but the bill has not meaningfully changed. And since then, more details have emerged about his family’s business.
This week brought the big, brutal budget reconciliation bill into sharper focus as the Congressional Majority advanced tax cuts for the super-rich paid for by and severe cuts to healthcare and nutrition assistance through key committees. The combination of tax giveaways to those who need it least and benefit cuts slashing support for basic human needs t are a recipe for catastrophe for most of the country.
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.