Senate Democrats Urge CFPB to Start Over on Payday Rule

United States Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was recently joined by 11 of his Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger, pressing her and the Bureau to stop the ongoing work on a revised Payday Rule and start over. In the letter, the Senators cited press reports alleging manipulation of the rulemaking process and suggested restarting the process to maintain the Bureau’s integrity.

“The memorandum provides details of a CFPB rulemaking process that, if true, flagrantly violates the Administrative Procedure Act’s requirements ⎯ in which political appointees exerted improper influence, manipulated or misinterpreted economic research, and overruled career staff to support a predetermined outcome,” the Senators wrote.

Brown and his colleagues cited an internal Bureau memorandum from press reports that they say suggested manipulation of the process by “advocating for ignoring the majority of the available research, and handpicking studies that supported a specific condition, regardless of their vintage or quality,” as well as appointees’ reliance on findings that differ with data from industry-funded research.

“In light of these disturbing allegations, we urge you to halt work on the Payday Rule immediately and begin the rulemaking process anew,” they wrote. “Your failure to do so not only calls into question the integrity of the rulemaking process, but could also result in grievous harm to consumers.”

Along with Senator Brown, the letter was signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.).