Tag Archives: Congress

Letters to Congress: Letter Opposing H.R. 3556 “Increasing Financial Regulatory Accountability and Transparency Act”

AFR sent a letter opposing H.R. 3556 “Increasing Financial Regulatory Accountability and Transparency Act,” a bill supposedly to make the Fed more transparent, which will instead hamstring the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s (“FSOC”) ability to effectively monitor risk in the financial system. This bill would subject the FSOC’s designation authority to Congressional review, which would allow any firm the FSOC designates as systemically important to lobby Congress to rescind the FSOC’s designation. This would render the FSOC designation authority under the Dodd-Frank Act futile and unnecessarily politicize the agency’s efforts to monitor companies that pose an outsized risk to our financial system. This bill comes at the heels of the FSOC’s announcement to reinvigorate its designation process, a welcome step in preventing the next financial crisis.

Letters to Congress: Letter in Opposition to HR 3564

AFR submitted this letter in opposition to H.R. 3564, which would make mortgages more expensive for many middle-class American families. H.R. 3564 would rescind the FHFA’s more equitable mortgage pricing framework and instead require the FHFA to increase fees for many first-time home buyers and those who do not have a 20% down payment.

News Release: Consumer Advocacy Groups Oppose Weak Stablecoin Bill

A new stablecoins bill proposal being discussed today in Congress would fail to adequately address the many risks that the industry posed to consumers, investors and financial markets, according to Americans for Financial Reform, Demand Progress and a dozen consumer protection groups. The bill is a focus of today’s hearing held by the House Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion. 

Letters to Regulators: Letter to HFSC on Stablecoin Bill

AFREF joined partner organizations to express concerns about the grave risks stablecoins pose to households and our financial system and urged the Committee to take the utmost care to not advance legislation that will increase these risks by expanding the reach of stablecoins without providing adequate protections. The letter highlights many elements that make the bill inefficient in providing adequate protections for consumers, investors, and financial markets.

Guest Blog: Do Not Revamp or Defund the CFPB

Congressional Republicans have moved on to their next target for financial deregulation: Republicans in Congress and the consumer finance industry want to eliminate or hobble the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency has provided $16 billion in restitution or cancelled debt to 192 million consumers since the agency began operation in 2010. It’s one of the few institutions, public or private, that has earned Americans’ confidence in a long time.