[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 52 (Monday, April 13, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H2123-H2124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              BUREAU ADVISORY COMMISSION TRANSPARENCY ACT

  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1265) to apply the requirements of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1265

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Bureau Advisory Commission 
     Transparency Act''.

     SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF FACA.

       Section 1013 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 
     2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(h) Application of FACA.--Notwithstanding any provision 
     of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), such 
     Act shall apply to each advisory committee of the Bureau and 
     each subcommittee of such an advisory committee.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Capuano) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within

[[Page H2124]]

which to revise and extend their remarks and add extraneous materials 
on this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy), the primary author of this bill, who has worked 
tirelessly to make sure that these advisory committees have 
transparency.
  Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman for yielding to 
me. I thank him for his support in regard to my legislation and for all 
the work he does on Financial Services, as well as the support from the 
chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Financial Services. I 
am grateful to them as well.
  As we gather in this Chamber, I don't think it is very often that we 
come in in a kumbaya moment in regard to the Consumer Financial 
Protection Bureau. I think those who follow our committee would 
recognize that there are a few differences in how the CFPB is 
structured and how it should move forward. We have had that debate. All 
of us agree that consumers should be protected, and they should have a 
strong advocate in that protection.
  Though we have disagreed on some elements of the CFPB, I am proud 
today that we have a bipartisan group coming in talking about some 
straightforward reforms that make some of the rules from the CFPB work 
a lot better and help consumers out, help Americans out, help our 
constituents out.
  In regard to my bill, in the last Congress, I tried to go to one of 
the advisory committees at the CFPB. Now, most of these are usually 
open in government. There are only a couple of exceptions. If you work 
at the CIA, the CIA doesn't open up their advisory committee meetings 
for obvious purposes and reasons; and the Fed, with the FOMC, when they 
are setting monetary policy, they too don't open up their meetings, 
community advisory meetings, for obvious purposes.
  But when I tried to go to a CFPB meeting in the last Congress, I was 
told by the CFPB that they would not accommodate my request because 
their meetings were closed. That concerned me because the CFPB has said 
that ``transparency is at the core of our agenda, and it is the key 
part of how we operate.'' On their Web site, they say that ``you 
deserve to know what we're doing for the American public and how we are 
doing it.''
  So I had some concern that when the rest of government opens up their 
meetings, the CFPB wouldn't open up their meetings and allow the public 
to hear the conversation and the dialogue that was going on. I highly 
doubt the information is as sensitive as what is taking place at the 
CIA or setting monetary policy, and if we are protecting consumers, 
that should be an open conversation and debate.
  When I introduced a similar bill in the last Congress, I actually 
received a phone call from the Director, who said: You know what? This 
is a good bill. You know, we have had some disagreement on how the CFPB 
is run, but we will open up our meetings.
  Well, I don't know if in that phone call we had we weren't on the 
same page or what. I am not going to say it was trickery on the 
Director's part, but what happened was the CFPB opened up only a small 
portion of their advisory committee meetings, about an hour and a half, 
and in the other vast majority of the meetings, they moved them into 
what was called a subcommittee so they wouldn't be open. What my bill 
today does is make sure these meetings are open to the public, that we 
as a community, as an American family, get to see the conversation that 
is taking place in the advisory committees to the CFPB. It makes 
complete sense.
  I am proud and honored that my friends across the aisle were 
supportive of this measure. The ranking member, Ms. Waters, actually 
spoke kind of in favor of my proposal. I mean, I took it that way. She 
voted for it and recommended a vote in favor of it. I appreciate her 
bipartisanship.
  I think this is about making good work, making it accountable, making 
it transparent, and that is a start, at least in the advisory meetings 
that our government takes part in.
  I am grateful for the support; I am grateful for the time, and I urge 
my colleagues to support this great piece of bipartisan, transparent 
legislation.
  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. As Mr. Duffy just said, 
on occasion, we can come to an agreement. This is the second CFPB bill 
we have done in a row. There are many things we would like to work 
together on.
  We do wish, however, that on some of the other items on the CFPB, 
some of the members of the Financial Services Committee would kind of 
get off the horse a little bit and come on down and work with us.
  These two bills are very good bills, as far as I am concerned. The 
CFPB already does some of the things this act would impose, but they 
should do them all. There is no question about it. That is why this is 
an easy bill to support. I thank Mr. Duffy for offering it.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Wisconsin's work on 
this. Some of the points that he made is that this is about 
transparency. Why that is important is because this agency, the 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is making the important decisions 
about the kinds of financial products that American families can 
access.
  Quite honestly, some people think that, in many ways, the actions of 
this agency have been beginning to reduce some of the availability of 
some of those financial products.
  I think it is important to have these advisory groups. I want to 
commend the agency for having those, but I think it is important, also, 
for the American people to hear the comments and the discussions that 
are going on that could inevitably affect the kinds of financial 
products that they are going to be able to access in the future.
  Now, the fact is that many of the other agencies have to fall under 
the FACA, but because this agency is tucked inside the Federal 
Reserve--and the Federal Reserve currently is exempt--but, quite 
honestly, the only other agencies that are exempt from it are the CIA, 
the Director of National Intelligence, and the Federal Reserve as they 
are talking about monetary policy. I hardly believe that the CFPB falls 
in the same category of any of these other agencies that are exempt.
  This is a commonsense piece of legislation. It allows that same 
transparency available in all other agencies across the government and 
allows the American people to hear those important discussions about 
their future and about the financial products that they are going to be 
able to access in the future.
  Again, I want to remind everybody this was a bipartisan bill that 
passed 56-2 out of our committee.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support passage of this bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1265.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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