Majority Press Releases
Banking Committee Democrats Call for Hearing to Hold Wells Fargo Accountable For Consumer Abuses
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - along with his Democratic colleagues are calling on the Senate Banking Committee to hold a hearing with Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan and Chair of the Board of Directors Elizabeth Duke, in the wake of the bank's rampant consumer abuses revealed over the last year. More than a dozen widespread and persistent failures by the bank have come to light since Tim Sloan la… Continue Reading
October 3, 2018
Senate Democrats Demand Mick Mulvaney Explain Vetting Process of CFPB Political Appointees after Racist and Sexist Blog Post Surfaces
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - along with 12 Senate Democrats is demanding CFPB leadership explain how Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Policy Director Eric Blankenstein was chosen to oversee supervision, enforcement, and fair lending issues given his past racist writings. Last week, the Washington Post uncovered a 2004 blog where Blankenstein, under an alias, posted bigoted writings on… Continue Reading
October 2, 2018
Brown Opening Statement at Banking Committee Hearing on Implementation of the Dodd-Frank Rollback Bill, S.2155
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - delivered the following opening statement at today's hearing entitled 'Implementation of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act' Sen. Brown's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: This hearing was originally scheduled for September 13-the same week ten years ago that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, paving the way fo… Continue Reading
October 1, 2018
Brown Floor Speech: Author of Racist Blog Posts Cannot be Entrusted with Enforcing Anti-Discrimination Laws
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following floor speech calling for the firing of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) political appointee Eric Blankenstein after the Washington Post uncovered a past blog where Blankenstein has posted bigoted writings on race, hate crimes and women. In his current role as Policy Director at CFPB, Blankenstein is charged with enforcing cons… Continue Reading
September 28, 2018
Brown: Author of Racist Blog Posts Cannot be Entrusted with Enforcing Anti-Discrimination Laws
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - is calling for the firing of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) political appointee Eric Blankenstein after the Washington Post uncovered a past blog where Blankenstein has posted bigoted writings on race, hate crimes and women. In his current role as Policy Director at CFPB, Blankenstein is charged with enforcing consumer protection laws, including l… Continue Reading
September 18, 2018
Brown Opening Statement at Banking Committee Hearing on Fintech
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - delivered the following opening statement at today's hearing entitled 'Fintech: Examining Digitization, Data and Technology'. Sen. Brown's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: In the run-up to the financial crisis, Wall Street banks bragged about innovations that they claimed made the financial system less risky and credit more affordable. Some of these… Continue Reading
September 14, 2018
Brown, Merkley, Menendez, Cortez Masto Demand Details of Kathy Kraninger’s Role in Transferring $9.8 Million from FEMA to ICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - today joined with U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), requesting that Office of Management and Budget Program Associate Director and nominee for Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Kathy Kraninger provide documents related to her role in transferring funds away from Federal Emergen… Continue Reading
September 6, 2018
Brown Opening Statement at Banking Committee Hearing on Russia Sanctions
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - delivered the following opening statement at today's hearing entitled 'Outside Perspectives on Russia Sanctions: Current Effectiveness and Potential for Next Steps'. Sen. Brown's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: Today we gather to further assess Russia's persistent efforts to attack the US and our allies via cyber, influence and other campaigns di… Continue Reading
August 28, 2018
Brown Warns Against Divisive Changes to the Community Reinvestment Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC) Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) seeking comment on ways to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The CRA - meant to address generations of segregation and discrimination in bank lending - is one of the most important accomplishments of the Civil Right… Continue Reading
August 27, 2018
Brown Statement On Resignation of CFPB Student Loan Watchdog
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement on the resignation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Student Loan Ombudsman and Assistant Director for the Office for Students and Young Consumers, Mr. Seth Frotman. Mr. Frotman and his office were in charge of protecting student borrowers from predatory lending practices and financial schemes in the $1.5 tril… Continue Reading
August 23, 2018
Brown Statement On Bank Profits Breaking Quarterly Records
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Quarterly Banking Profile. FDIC insured institutions reported $60.2 billion in the second quarter of 2018, smashing previous quarterly records. "While Wall Street is taking another victory lap with record profits, workers' real hourly wages have declined in the last year. The … Continue Reading
August 23, 2018
Brown Opening Statement at Banking Committee Executive Session on Nominees
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following opening statement at today's Executive Session to consider the nominations of Kathleen Kraninger, Kimberly Reed, Elad Roisman, Michael Bright, Rae Oliver and Dino Falaschetti. Sen. Brown's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Today's nominees, if confirmed, will have a real impact on the lives and financ… Continue Reading
August 21, 2018
Brown Opening Statement at Banking Committee Hearing on Russia Sanctions
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following opening statement at today's hearing titled 'Russia Sanctions: Current Effectiveness and Potential for Next Steps'. Sen. Brown's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: Mr. Chairman, thank you for agreeing to this important hearing, the first in the coming weeks on sanctions and other measures to more forcefully counter Russia's c… Continue Reading
July 31, 2018
Brown: Administration Gives Two Thumbs Up to Predatory Payday Lenders
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement on the Treasury Department's fintech report and the Office of the Controller of the Currency's (OCC) announcement that it will grant national charters to online lenders. The Treasury report recommends repealing the CFPB's federal payday-lending protections; while the national preemption afforded by the OCC charters will effectiv… Continue Reading
July 30, 2018
Brown, Merkley, Warren Press Regulators for Greater Transparency on Volcker Rule Enforcement
United States Senate Brown, Merkley, Warren Press Regulators for Greater Transparency on Volcker Rule Enforcement Senators' push comes as Trump regulators attempt to rewrite and weaken the rule WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's Senator Jeff Merkley, a co-author of the Volcker Rule, today joined with Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to urgently press federal financial regulators for more transparency about how the Volcker Rule is currently bein… Continue Reading
July 24, 2018
Brown Keynote Speech at Americans For Financial Reform Forum on the Financial Crisis Ten Years Later
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - delivered the following keynote speech today at the Americans for Financial Reform's event titled "Regulating Wall Street --10 Years Later". Sen. Brown's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: Thank you Lisa Donner and Marcus Stanley for organizing the panel and for the work of Americans for Financial Reform. You are one of the main reasons we secured… Continue Reading
July 24, 2018
Brown Opening Statement at Banking Committee Hearing on Nominations to the SEC, Ginnie Mae, HUD and OFR
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following opening statement at today's hearing on nominations to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Government National Mortgage Association, Department of Housing and Urban Development and Office of Financial Research. Sen. Brown's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: Thank you, Chairman Crapo, for holding today's hearing on the no… Continue Reading
July 19, 2018
Brown Statement On President Trump Criticizing The Federal Reserve For Raising Interest Rates
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement in response to President Trump's harsh criticism of the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates in an interview today with CNBC. "Presidents should respect the independence of the Federal Reserve," said Brown. "I asked Chair Powell under oath at his nomination hearing if he would maintain that independence and he assured th… Continue Reading
July 19, 2018
Brown opening Statement at Banking Committee Hearing on Nominations to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Export-Import Bank
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following opening statement at today's hearing on nominations to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Sen. Brown's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to our nominees, their family, and friends. The financial crisis started when greedy lenders … Continue Reading
July 17, 2018
Committee Members Call on Banking Committee to Postpone CFPB Hearing Until Requested Documents are Provided
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Senate Banking Committee Democrats wrote to Chairman Crapo urging him to postpone Thursday's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau nomination hearing of Ms. Kathy Kraninger until committee members' outstanding requests for information have been fulfilled. Members of the Committee have requested relevant documents and other information in advance of Thursday's nominations hearing, including: Letter From Senators Brown and Warren Letter From Senators Menendez, Brown, … Continue Reading
