[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 68 (Tuesday, June 6, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E886-E887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO THE CONSUMER LEAGUE OF NEW JERSEY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BILL PASCRELL, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 6, 2000

  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call to your attention the 
deeds of a remarkable organization, the Consumers League of New Jersey 
(CLNJ), which was recognized on Tuesday, May 16, 2000 because of its 
many years of service and leadership at a dinner celebration in West 
Orange, New Jersey. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the group, 
so it is only fitting that these words are immortalized in the annals 
of this greatest of all freely elected bodies.
  Since 1900, the Consumers League has fought for the rights of 
consumers. Congress used ideas from CLNJ testimony in the U.S. Home 
Equity Loan Consumer Protection Act, to prohibit ``rate rise 
surprise.'' Congress also adopted a CLNJ measure to help save homes 
from foreclosure, by giving homeowners a chance to pay their mortgages 
through bankruptcy payment plans. The league helps people shop for 
credit with a pamphlet on low-cost credit cards. Consumers League also 
helps low income consumers with its ``rent to own'' campaign.
  Consumers League of New Jersey is nonpartisan. CLNJ does not make 
endorsements nor does it contribute money to candidates. They give 
people an honest opinion, and try to persuade elected officials to help 
consumers.
  In the early 1900s children worked in factories, and many of the 
protections of modern life which we take for granted were nonexistent. 
Consumers League struggled for 35 years before its original agenda of 
safe food, safe working conditions, prohibitions on child labor, 
promotion of minimum wages laws and union protections, was enacted into 
law as the New Deal.
  CLNJ has always been ahead of the country in its vision of justice. 
It was not until the New Deal that many of the reforms championed by 
CLNJ became law. CLNJ was a founding member of the National Consumers 
League (NCL), and worked with NCL and unions to bring about change. 
CLNJ also took up the cause of the ``watch-dial'' radium poisoning of 
female workers in Essex County, New Jersey.
  In the 1960s and 1970s, CLNJ leaders spoke out for consumer 
protection laws, credit laws, usury limits, and enforcement of minimum 
wage and child labor laws. They looked into supermarket prices. They 
also went to the fields to support migrant farm-workers. Rutgers 
University of New Jersey has considerable archives about the early and 
middle years of CLNJ history.
  From 1985 onward CLNJ has fought for consumer rights and basic 
justice. For fifteen years they promoted lower interest rates by 
publicizing lower interest credit cards. They gave away tens of 
thousands of credit card pamphlets. CLNJ also lamented bank mergers, 
which resulted in fewer choices, higher prices for consumers and 
interest rates that never went down. In addition, CLNJ supported the 
Fair Lending Coalition. They also helped enact New Jersey's Basic 
Banking law.
  From 1986-89, CLNJ's President was a member of the Federal Reserve 
Board's Consumer Advisory Council. The president opposed ``checkhold'' 
delays. The common ground discovered between CL and bankers proved to 
be the formula which Congress enacted into law: the Federal Reserve 
must process checks quicker, and banks must end the long holds. In 
addition, the president supported Truth in Savings, which was also 
enacted.
  CLNJ fought against weakening New Jersey's Secondary Mortgage Loan 
Act. When the Legislature legalized abuses, less than one year later, 
CLNJ testified before the United States Senate in 1987 about home 
equity loans, or as CLNJ put it ``charge a blouse, put a lien on your 
house.'' Congress banned what New Jersey had approved: the ``rate rise

[[Page E887]]

surprise'' (the power to change a home equity contract after you 
borrowed significant funds).
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join our colleagues, the United States of 
America, the State of New Jersey and me in recognizing the outstanding 
and invaluable service to the community of the Consumers League of New 
Jersey.

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