Press Releases

Cordray Appearance Shows Democrats Use CFPB as 'Political War Machine'


 

Washington, May 17, 2017 -

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) issued the following statement about CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s decision to attend House Democrats’ weekly caucus meeting today:

“Everyone knows Mr. Cordray will likely leave the CFPB soon and pursue political office in Ohio again, but his attendance at what amounts to nothing more than a Democrat pep rally shows just how partisan and politicized he and his supposed ‘independent’ agency truly are.  Liberal elites in Washington want to keep the Bureau unaccountable to hardworking taxpayers so they can continue to wield it as a political war machine.  We’ve already seen the abuses that occurred when Democrats used the IRS as their attack dog and unleashed financial regulators to go after legally operating businesses with ‘Operation Choke Point.’  The Financial CHOICE Act holds financial regulators and the CFPB accountable so it can be the consumer protection ‘cop on the beat’ that Americans need.”

Facts About CFPB Reforms in the Financial CHOICE Act

  • The Financial CHOICE Act will re-establish the CFPB as a civil enforcement agency focused totally on consumer protection.
  • To reflect this focus on its consumer protection mission, the CFPB will be renamed the Consumer Law Enforcement Agency.  It will retain the authority to enforce consumer financial protection laws enacted by Congress.
  • In light of the CFPB’s re- structuring as a civil law enforcement agency, it makes sense to have a single Director who is removable by the President and therefore accountable to him or her for enforcing the law. 
  • The single director the Dodd-Frank Act established is so wholly unaccountable that the very structure of the CFPB was ruled unconstitutional by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. 
  • CFPB’s consumer complaint database irresponsibly publishes consumer complaints first and investigates their veracity later.  It is inappropriate for a government agency to publically “name and shame” companies on the basis of allegations alone, without even a cursory verification first.  The Financial CHOICE Act insists that the consumer complaint database be used responsibly as a tool for consumer relief and agency enforcement efforts, not as a political weapon.
  • The Financial CHOICE Act makes the agency accountable to Congress and the President by bringing it onto the regular appropriations process like other agencies that are responsible for consumer and investor protection.
The Financial CHOICE Act creates an independent inspector general for the agency. 

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