[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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