Letters to Congress: 26 Organization Urge Enactment of the Opportunity Zones Reform Act
AFR led a letter to Congress with 26 signers in support of the Opportunity Zone Reform Act.
AFR led a letter to Congress with 26 signers in support of the Opportunity Zone Reform Act.
In this statement, AFR focuses in particular on the CFPB’s recent enforcement successes, the need to retain its authority, and some of the CFPB’s existing and future priorities.
AFR’s Senior Policy Analyst Renita Marcellin testified at the House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force on Financial Technology’s hearing “What’s in Your Digital Wallet? A Review of Recent Trends in Mobile Banking and Payments.”
AFR joined a broad coalition of bank and credit union associations and consumer organizations in submitting a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services urging passage of the Close the ILC Loophole Act, introduced by Representatives Chuy Garcia (D-IL) and Lance Gooden (R-TX).
AFR’s Consumer Policy Counsel Elyse Hicks testified at today’s hearing in the House Financial Services Committee examining overdraft fees.
AFR led a letter to the House Financial Services Committee in support of Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Overdraft Protection Act of 2021.
Today, in a letter to Congress, 17 national advocacy organizations representing consumers, investors, and digital rights concerns called on the House Financial Services Committee to hold a hearing scrutinizing the steps tech giant Google (Alphabet) is taking to enter the cryptocurrency and digital assets markets, and how such moves might negatively impact privacy rights, consumer protections and safeguards against economic concentration. The call echoes concerns raised previously by advocates regarding Facebook’s designs on the financial services sector with the introduction of its now scuttled stablecoin, Libra (renamed Diem).
We, the undersigned organizations, write to you as advocates of transparency in digital asset markets. The cryptocurrency market boom has led to large corporations investing in the field, including Facebook (now Meta), whose problematic “Libra” cryptocurrency proposal was scrutinized in a 2019 hearing held by the Committee, at your direction. Facebook has since abandoned the project in light of the concerns raised at this hearing and due to push back from policymakers, public interest organizations, and financial regulators.
“The administration’s order includes the recognition that the rapid growth of digital assets as instruments for financial speculation is creating a wide range of serious risks and harms for consumers, investors, and the public at large. It is important that the order recognizes and articulates a set of these risks, and a whole of government approach can help address the scale and scope of the potential harm. It will be important for the studies authorized by the order to generate useful data and momentum for decisive regulatory action,” said Mark Hays, senior policy analyst with AFR and Demand Progress.
AFR joined NCLC and SBPC in a letter to Congress in support of the Economic Continuity and Stability Act, which would facilitate the credit industry’s smooth transition from the LIBOR index.