Patrick McHenryChairman

Washington, July 20, 2011 - Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus issued the following statement in response to a press conference held by Democrats on Wednesday about legislation the House will consider on Thursday to bring needed accountability to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB):

“It is amazing that suddenly the Democrats believe placing the CFPB under the direction of a bipartisan commission is somehow an attack on the agency.  A bipartisan commission is exactly what the Democrats proposed and passed out of the House.  So they were for a commission before they were against it.  Our bill, which includes the Democrats’ idea of a bipartisan commission, simply promotes greater accountability and transparency at the CFPB -- an agency that will have more than 1,000 federal employees and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars.  The American people want accountability at every massive government bureaucracy, including the CFPB.”