[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 13, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2264-S2265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, 
  UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER 
FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE RELATING TO 
   ``EXAMINATIONS FOR RISKS TO ACTIVE-DUTY SERVICEMEMBERS AND THEIR 
                COVERED DEPENDENTS''--Motion to Proceed

  Mr. REED. Madam President, I move proceed to Calendar No. 388, S.J. 
Res. 132.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 388, S.J. Res. 132, 
     providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of 
     title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the 
     Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to the 
     withdrawal of the rule relating to ``Examinations for Risks 
     to Active-Duty Servicemembers and Their Covered Dependents''.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will be 2 minutes for debate.
  Mr. REED. Madam President, it is not enough that President Trump has 
injected chaos and inflation into the economy with his illegal tariffs, 
unauthorized war, and his so-called Big Beautiful Bill. He is also 
stripping protections for average Americans against being defrauded and 
scammed out of their money.
  Case in point, through Russell Vought, who is moonlighting as the 
Director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or the CFPB, Trump is 
dismantling the Military Lending Act or MLA. He has fired the CFPB 
staff responsible for enforcing this law, dismissing active cases 
against lenders for defrauding and scamming the troops, and refusing to 
supervise financial companies to make sure they comply with the 
Military Lending Act.
  Back in 2006, the Senate passed the Military Lending Act by unanimous 
consent. I strongly support this law because as a former military 
officer, I have seen how servicemembers have had their lives and 
careers ruined by predatory lending.
  And in 2010, the Senate strengthened this law again in a bipartisan 
fashion--completely bipartisan--by giving the CFPB powerful supervision 
and enforcement authority.
  Since then, the CFPB has returned $360 million to servicemembers and 
veterans. They have won major cases for violations of the MLA, and as 
result, corrected the behavior of many predatory lenders.
  But Mr. Vought is unilaterally defanging this Agency--taking it 
apart. Besides removing staff, he has issued guidance stripping the 
Agency of its authority to supervise nonbank lenders for compliance 
with the MLA.
  Who are these nonbank lenders? These are the payday lenders who set 
up shop outside military bases and target young servicemembers with 
loans

[[Page S2265]]

that leave them with huge debts and exorbitant interest payments that 
can be in some cases in the triple digits.
  Mr. Vought wants to give these lenders free rein to go after 
servicemembers to take away their well-earned compensation, and in many 
cases--I have seen it personally--to put them in a financial spiral 
that pushes them out of the service and into a very, very difficult and 
challenging life.
  Today, this Senate can go on record, as it has in the past, in a very 
strong bipartisan vote to rescind Mr. Vought's guidance and protect our 
servicemembers.
  Now, every one of us goes back home and gets with the veterans groups 
and says: We owe you more than we can pay you. We respect what you have 
done.
  And those servicemen who are serving today in the Persian Gulf, they 
have to get the support they need, and frankly, they don't get it.
  It is an easy choice: the troops or Russell Vought's attempt to 
suppress these troops who are serving us.
  And I would urge passage of this proposal.
  I ask for the yeas and nays.


                       Vote on Motion to Proceed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion to proceed.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced--yeas 48, nays 52, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 121 Leg.]

                                YEAS--48

     Alsobrooks
     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt Rochester
     Booker
     Cantwell
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Fetterman
     Gallego
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kim
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Markey
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schiff
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Slotkin
     Smith
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--52

     Armstrong
     Banks
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Britt
     Budd
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Curtis
     Daines
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Husted
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Justice
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     McConnell
     McCormick
     Moody
     Moran
     Moreno
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Rounds
     Schmitt
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Sheehy
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Tuberville
     Wicker
     Young
  The motion was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schmitt). The Senator from Georgia.

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