To: The United States Senate
Tell Your Senators to Let the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Do Its Job and Confirm Rich Co...
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The CFPB was created to address the huge problem of abusive and deceptive banking and lending, which caused an epidemic of foreclosures, saddled millions of Americans with unmanageable debt, and triggered an ongoing economic calamity.
Under Rich Cordray’s leadership, the CFPB has ably begun to fulfill its mission by returning nearly half a billion dollars to consumers cheated by credit card companies; moving to end the era of mortgages designed to rake in up-front fees before they self-destruct; standing up for students and families trapped in high-cost education loans; and protecting military families against illegal foreclosures and deceptive education-loan practices. It is doing all this and more, while operating with refreshing candor and transparency and outreach to the public, and with steady oversight from Capitol Hill.
Director Cordray has been re-nominated to serve a full term. His leadership has won praise from Republicans and Democrats, and from bankers and consumer advocates. And yet, for two years, a group of Senators has held his appointment hostage..
To those Senators we say: It is time to change your position. We need the CFPB to be effective. We urge you to reject the use of the confirmation process - and the filibuster - to undo legislation passed by wide majorities in the House and Senate, signed by the President, and supported by large majorities of the public.
The choice before the Senate is simple: allow an up-or-down vote on this nomination, or open the door to more of the slippery financial practices that the CFPB is working hard to prevent. That would be terrible not only for consumers but for responsible lenders and the broader economy.
Why is this important?
Elizabeth Warren: "Never before in American history has a minority in the Senate blocked a nominee to try to get changes in a law they don't like and don't have the votes to change.”
She's talking about the 43 Senators who have threatened to block Rich Cordray's re-nomination as director. They don’t question his qualifications; their grievance is with the CFPB itself.
"Blocking Rich Cordray is about weakening the agency,” says Warren. It's "about keeping the game rigged" so "consumers remain in the dark -- and a few bad actors can rake in big profits.”