Civil and Human Coalition Opposes Legislation to Weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights opposed bills to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that were voted out of the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit today.

“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. The bills being considered today, however, do not reflect this priority,” write Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference, and Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference in a letter to the committee.

Two bills would replace the director of the CFPB with a five-person commission, which The Leadership Conference says would “undermine the very accountability over consumer protection that the CFPB was intended to provide,” and expand the veto power that other regulatory agencies have over the CFPB. A third bill would prevent the CFPB from taking jurisdiction over consumer protection laws until a director is confirmed by the Senate, which could easily allow opponents of the CFPB to stall it indefinitely by filibustering the president’s nominee.

The CFPB was created by the financial reform law passed last year to protect consumers from predatory and abusive lending practices like the ones that led to the collapse of the financial industry in 2008.

Read the full letter below: