House Dems Lash Out at GOP Treatment of CFPB in Staff Report

Rep. Maxine Waters (D- CA), the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee,  released a report on July 21st compiled by staff chronicling the numerous successes of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and attempts by House Republicans to “functionally terminate” the agency. The report comes on the heels of a bill recently passed by the Republican majority in the House to void the CFPB’s newly-issued rule on mandatory arbitration.

Democratic staff highlighted the Bureau’s record addressing consumer complaints, especially those of military service members, as a major triumph of the agency. The report included a section on the CFPB’s power to regulate unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices (UDAAP), although the agency has exhibited in recent months a penchant to overextend its interpretation of UDAAP into areas that could threaten tribal sovereignty and self-determination.

As to Republican attacks, the staff report noted the historic resistance to CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s abnormal recess appointment, the Financial CHOICE Act, a recent report recommending wholesale changes to the CFPB by the Dept. of the Treasury, and the Republican effort to nullify the CFPB’s arbitration rule via the Congressional Review Act. Pressure for changes to the authority and structure of the CFPB are unlikely to end soon as rumors swirl over whether the agency’s powerful director will leave his post to seek the Democratic nomination for governor in Ohio.