[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 111 (Wednesday, July 16, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1172-E1173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2015

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                               speech of

                             HON. RUSH HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 14, 2014

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5016) making 
     appropriations for financial services and general government 
     for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chair, this Financial Services Bill seeks to overturn 
the intent of Dodd-Frank by bringing the Consumer Financial Protection

[[Page E1173]]

Bureau under the turmoil of the annual appropriations process.
  Bankers have people to look out for their interests, brokers have 
people to look out for their interests, investors and hedge fund 
managers have the same. Until the CFPB was created, the same could not 
be said for the average consumer. The current funding stream for the 
CFPB, from the Federal Reserve System, to the annual appropriations 
process, puts politics, not the consumer first.
  If we have learned only one lesson from the financial crisis of 2008, 
it should be this: when we protect consumers, we protect the health of 
the entire financial system.
  It is clear that the consumer credit and housing bubbles of the last 
decade were the result of unfair and deceptive practices and credit 
card companies and lenders that steered families into mortgages and 
financial products that they did not understand and that they could not 
afford.
  In 2010 after an open process that included a now rare House-Senate 
conference, the Congress passed historic reforms to the nation's 
financial system. Among these reforms was the creation of the Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau. Indeed, a strong argument could be made 
that the creation of the CFPB is the most important and most beneficial 
provision of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms.
  Members of the House and Senate, after much deliberation, concluded 
that in order for the CFPB to effectively protect American consumers, 
it must be independent.
  The Dodd-Frank legislation, which is the law of the land, is clear on 
this point. This new financial watchdog would be independent, insulated 
from the partisan fights of Capitol Hill, by deriving its operating 
budget from non-appropriated funds from the Federal Reserve.
  House Republicans are once again attempting to politicize the funding 
process for the CFPB, handcuffing the CFPB in order to preserve the 
status quo that benefits big banks at the expense of American 
consumers.
  This legislation would change the nature of the CFPB and make its 
funding different from other bank regulators which remain independent 
of the appropriations process.
  In an appropriations bill that is already $566 million below last 
year's funding level, where will Congress find the $500 million, or 
$400 million, or $300 million in Fiscal year 2016 and beyond? I fear 
that the answer is that we will not fund it at all. That is not 
acceptable. That would hurt the American consumer, and would inject 
more risk into the economy.
  Instead we should continue to ensure that the Consumer Financial 
Protection Bureau will have the independence and resources it needs as 
it continues its critical work of protecting consumers and by extension 
the entire U.S. financial system.

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