House Democrats Pass Consumers First Act To Reverse Mick Mulvaney's Corruption

Two weeks ago, House Democrats continued to work For The People by passing legislation to undo the Trump Administration’s sabotage of the consumer protections created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms. 

The House passed the Consumers First Act, which reverses the Trump admin's efforts to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and restores the ability of the CFPB to protect American consumers who purchase financial products, such as home mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and retirement plans.  

The House voted Wednesday to undo the Trump administration’s reining in of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and prevent future directors from replicating those efforts.  Called the Consumers First Act, the bill aims to reverse actions taken by former CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney to loosen the bureau’s oversight of financial firms, rollback agency regulations, reorganize key departments and rebrand the polarizing watchdog.

Some background on CFPB can be found in numerous Smart Dissent posts over the past 2+ years.  It's something we are extremely focused on.

Designed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the CFPB was created through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law to police financial firms for predatory lending and other unfair, abusive or deceptive practices.... releasing strict regulations and pursuing legal cases against firms that allegedly defrauded or abuses their customers.

Mulvaney spearheaded the revision of the CFPB’s rule on payday loans, reduced the frequency of bureau enforcement actions, and sought to give banks and lenders more flexibility to avoid severe fines and public reprimands..... stripping enforcement powers from the bureau’s Office of Fair Lending, stacking the agency with political appointees while dismantling expert advisory boards, and taking steps to hide a public database of complaints against lenders and banks.

“Putting Mick Mulvaney in charge of the consumer financial protection bureau was the epitome of a fox guarding the hen house, so we have to undo all of the damage he did while he was acting director of the CFPB,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in House floor speech ahead of the vote.

The bill from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, passed the chamber along party lines in a vote of 231 to 191, with no Republicans supporting the measure.

Waters’s bill, which begins a lengthy condemnation of Mulvaney’s tenure, would reverse those efforts and bans future CFPB directors from replicating them.... imposes restrictions on the number of political appointees allowed at the CFPB.... create an Office of Students and Young Consumers focused on student loans, debt repayment and financial product access for young adults and their families.

It is infuriating that no Republicans joined Democrats in support of this critical legislation to protect Americans from harmful, predatory practices and reverse the Administration’s anti-consumer agenda.

We follow the CFPB news closely but we missed this incredible name-change snafu by Mulvaney.  What an incompetent fool.

Mulvaney also changed the bureau’s name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. That move was reversed in December by his successor, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger, after The Hill reported that the move would cost the agency between $9 and $19 million and cost entities regulated by the agency roughly $300 million.

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/445081-house-rebukes-mulvaneys-efforts-to-rein-in-consumer-bureau