[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 112 (Monday, July 25, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1401-E1402]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION SAFETY AND SOUNDNESS IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 
                                  2011

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 21, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union and under

[[Page E1402]]

     consideration the bill (H.R. 1315) to amend the Dodd-Frank 
     Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to strengthen 
     the review authority of the Financial Stability Oversight 
     Council of regulations issued by the Bureau of Consumer 
     Financial Protection, and for other purposes:
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the so-called ``Consumer 
Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act,'' which 
would weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, just as it is 
beginning its work on behalf of American consumers. While its 
supporters claim this bill is innocuous, it would water down the CFPB's 
ability to issue consumer protections and subject new proposals to an 
additional layer of bureaucratic review.
  It is noteworthy that the Republican majority has brought this bill 
to the floor one year after Congress passed sweeping reforms and 
consumer protections for the nation's financial sector, maybe to blunt 
any press coverage on the launch of the CFPB. With no chance of this 
bill becoming law, House Republicans are sending a message to big banks 
and financial institution that they are fighting to protect their 
interests, not the interests of American consumers.
  But House Republicans are sending another message--that they still 
fail to understand the causes of our current economic troubles. If we 
have learned any lesson from the financial crisis of the last several 
years, it should be that by protecting consumers we can protect the 
rest of the financial system.
  It is clear that the consumer credit and housing bubbles of the last 
decade were the result of unfair and deceptive practices of credit card 
companies and lenders that steered families into financial products 
that they did not understand and that they could not afford to repay.
  Congressional Republicans claim the CFPB will be a cumbersome 
bureaucracy that will be a drag on the marketplace. All we need to do 
is look at the CFPB's first reform effort--simplifying the long, 
tedious paperwork consumers face when purchasing a home down to a 
short, simple form--to know that Republican claims have no merit.
  I am hearing different messages from consumer advocates like AARP and 
the Consumer Federation of America and my constituents. They know that 
transparency in consumer financial products is long overdue and they 
support the CFPB.
  A free marketplace can only function properly if consumers can make 
well-informed decisions about financial products, whether they are home 
mortgages or credit cards. The American people deserve a strong, 
effective CFPB. We should allow it to do its work, and that is why I 
urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation.

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