Following her first policy speech as Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), sat down for a brief discussion where she outlined her plans as Chairwoman in the 116th Congress and addressed a wide range of important issues, including consumer protection, affordable housing, diversity and inclusion, working across the aisle, and the racial wealth gap. See the exchange here: Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, delivered the following remarks during her first policy speech in the 116th Congress: As Prepared for Delivery Thank you for the very warm welcome, and to the Center for American Progress for holding this event. CAP’s research and policy work are highly respected and a valued resource for Members of Congress and our staffs. I am very pleased to be here with you today to discuss the new Congress an... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) released the following statement after being approved by the Democratic Caucus to serve as the first woman and the first African American Chair of the House Financial Services Committee: “I am honored to have been selected by my colleagues to be the first Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee in the 116th Congress. Since 1995, I have served as Ranking Member or Chairwoman of every Subcommittee under the Committee’s jurisdiction, taking on ... Read more

Today, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure revealing a previously unreleased Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Consumer Bureau) analysis on excessive account fees charged to students by large banks, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “It is deeply troubling that a previously unpublished Consumer Bureau analysis showing that some large banks, including Wells Fargo, charged excessive... Read more

Following her historic nomination by the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee as the first woman and African American to chair the House Committee on Financial Services, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), issued the following statement: “I am honored to have been nominated by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee to serve as Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee in the 116th Congress. “I am committed to creating opportunities, ensuring fairness, and protecting th... Read more

Following the U.S. Senate confirmation of OMB Associate Director Kathy Kraninger to serve as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Consumer Bureau), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, issued the following statement: “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was specifically designed by Congress to be an independent watchdog for America’s consumers and I am committed to ensuring its statutorily mandated mission is not undermi... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement at a full Committee hearing on the Federal Reserve’s supervision and regulation of the financial system with Randal Quarles, Vice Chairman for Supervision, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Chairman, this is the first hearing since the 2018 midterm election, in which voters gave Democrats a majority in the U.S. House of Repres... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services and 12 Members of Congress, sent a letter to Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, urging him to use the full range of the Committee’s oversight authorities to conduct a formal investigation into allegations raised by Seth Frotman, former Assistant Director and Student Loan Ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In an August 2018 ... Read more

Today, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “The 2008 financial crisis was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression, inflicting widespread, devastating costs on millions of American families,” said Ranking Member Waters. “All told, more than $13 trillion of household wealth vanished, 11 million individuals were displaced f... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following floor statement in support of S.488, the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018, a bipartisan bill that facilitates access to capital for small businesses, increases protections for consumers and investors, fights the scourge of drug and human trafficking, and promotes financial stability. As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Speaker, this bill is an example of true bipartisanship... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, and Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced that they have reached an agreement on a package of strong, bipartisan capital-formation legislation to help America’s small businesses and entrepreneurs and to protect investors. The package, known as the “JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018,” is comprised of 32 individual pieces of le... Read more

Today, in response to the House Committee on Appropriations markup of the fiscal year 2019 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “The Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans are shameless in their attempts to rollback consumer protections and this bill is yet another attempt to undermine Wall Street reform and dismantle the Consumer Fi... Read more

Today, in response to Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney’s announcement that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Consumer Bureau) will dramatically reorganize its operational structure, creating new offices and closing existing ones, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “This reorganization further politicizes the Consumer Bureau and sends a clear signal that political appoi... Read more

Today, in response to the announcement that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will each impose a $500 million penalty against Wells Fargo for its auto insurance and mortgage lending abuses, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “Wells Fargo has a terrible track record of harming consumers and deserves every punishment they have received and more. Under the l... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services; Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce; Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, made the following statement in response to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Fiduciary... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following floor statement on H.R. 4061, the so-called “Financial Stability Oversight Council Improvement Act. This bill would undermine efforts mandated in the Dodd-Frank Act to mitigate the risks posed to the economy by large nonbank firms, like AIG, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Speaker, week after week the Majority is continuing to push through bills to r... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following floor statement on H.R. 4293, another Dodd-Frank rollback bill that would make it easy for Wall Street banks to get a passing grade on their stress tests. H.R. 4293 would effectively weaken a critical tool that protects Americans by ensuring large banks are adequately capitalized and prepared for a future downturn. As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other s... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, sent a letter to Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America, about the bank’s recent decision to eliminate free checking accounts for “eBanking” customers. Ranking Member Waters noted the potential impact of the decision on the unbanked population, which comes at a time of record bank profits. “…Since the passage of Dodd-Frank, banks, including Bank of America, have earned record profits,” ... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following floor statement in opposition to H.R. 1116, the so-called “Taking Account of Institutions with Low Operation Risk Act of 2017” or the TAILOR Act, a bill that directs financial regulators to prioritize reducing costs for financial institutions, including megabanks, over protecting consumers and the economy. As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1116, th... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, issued the following statement in response to the passage of S. 2155, a harmful bank deregulation bill that would roll back important reforms put in place by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: “As I have said before, this bill repackages harmful provisions from Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s Wrong Choice Act, and removes key consumer protecti... Read more

As the U.S. Senate debates S.2155, a bill that would roll back important reforms put in place by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, issued the following statement: “As I have said before, this bill repackages harmful provisions from Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s Wrong Choice Act, and removes key consumer protections put in place following the finan... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following statement at a full Committee markup to consider the Majority's Views and Estimates on the Budget for FY 2019: As Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, Committee Democrats are committed to advancing policies that create shared prosperity and economic opportunities for all, ensure fairness in our economy, protect consumers from predatory practices, and suppor... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following floor statement in opposition to H.R. 4296, a bill to decrease operational risk capital requirements for the nation’s largest banks: As Prepared for Delivery Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4296. This bill is simply another rollback of rules put in place after the financial crisis. It would undermine the stability of our country’s largest banks by restricting the ... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, gave the following floor statement in opposition to H.R. 1153, the so-called Mortgage Choice Act of 2017: As Prepared for Delivery Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1153, the so-called “Mortgage Choice Act of 2017”. Unfortunately, this bill is yet another attempt to undermine the strong consumer protections Democrats established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and C... Read more

Today, in response to a decision by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia Circuit upholding the constitutionality of the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Consumer Bureau), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement: “Today, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia Circuit confirmed what we have always known: the Consumer Bureau is constitutional and is here ... Read more