Civil and Human Rights Coalition Opposes Bill to Weaken Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

July 21, 2011 - Posted by Ron Bigler

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is opposing legislation that would greatly undermine the ability of the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to prevent the kinds of abuses and behavior that led to the recent and ongoing financial crisis.

In a July 21 letter to House members, Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference, and Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference, write that:

The Leadership Conference believes that the abysmal failure of existing regulators to look out for the interests of the communities we represent, or those of consumers in general, makes the need for a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau perfectly clear. H.R. 1315, however, does not reflect this priority.

The "Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act" or H.R. 1315, Zirkin and Henderson warn, would return power back to the same regulators who failed to use their authority to stop the practices that led to the mortgage crisis.

H.R. 1315 would badly weaken the CFPB relative to other financial industry regulators, eliminating the very accountability over consumer protection that the Bureau was meant to provide. It would do this by greatly – and unnecessarily – expanding the "veto power" that other regulators currently have over CFPB decisions.

The letter concludes by urging House members to oppose H.R. 1315 or else risk repeating the mistakes of the past.

The CFPB was among key reforms sought by The Leadership Conference and its coalition partners during negotiations for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act enacted in 2010.