The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights welcomed President Obama's signing today of the financial reform bill. In a statement, Executive Vice President Nancy Zirkin said:

"When President Obama signed the financial reform bill into law today, he sent a resounding message that his administration will not tolerate the reckless Wall Street practices that cost millions of hard-working families their homes, their jobs, and their retirement savings. 

This is a major victory for American consumers. Now that the real regulatory work can begin, we turn to President Obama once more to appoint Elizabeth Warren as the head of the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB will help everyone, but especially Black and Latino families who have been purposely steered into taking subprime and predatory loans they could not afford, even when they qualified for better terms. The regulations it implements will have a great impact on consumer safety and provide a rational framework for more equitable economic growth.

The civil and human rights coalition strongly supports this historic law, and we look forward to seeing the difference it makes in Americans' lives."

The Leadership Conference joined with a broad coalition of organizations to ensure that final financial reform legislation included strong protections for consumers and effective regulation to hold Wall Street accountable.