February 13, 2018

Brown:President's Budget Defunds Consumer Bureau

Proposed Budget Elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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 the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for Fiscal Year 2019.

The President’s budget claims a $6.4 billion savings from “restructuring” the CFPB – but Republicans save that money by never spending it to protect working families. The Administration listed this restructuring in their ‘Major Savings and Reform’ budget document. The CFPB has returned more than $12 billion in relief for 29 million Americans who were victims of financial scams.  Replacing this funding with appropriated dollars would be impossible at a time when the budget is also calling for a $75 billion reduction in non-defense discretionary spending.

“Now is not the time to let Wall Street and payday lenders call the shots on the budget,” said Brown. “The Trump Administration should put working families first instead of helping special interests gut the CFPB.”

The Budget rollout comes after reports that under OMB Director Mick Mulvaney’s guidance, the CFPB will revise the mission and vision of the bureau by further deterring the agency from pursuing its mission of protecting consumers.

Last week, the CFPB reportedly decided to end the investigation into the Equifax data breach, which put the personal information of 145 million consumers at risk.

In January, under Mulvaney’s guidance, the CFPB announced that it would delay the payday lending rule that protects consumers from predatory lenders. Mulvaney also dismissed a lawsuit against payday lenders who failed to disclose that predatory loans carried annual interest rates as high as 950 percent. He was also reported to be reconsidering whether Wells Fargo should have to pay tens of millions in fines for charging mortgage borrowers deceptive fees.

 

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