[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18976-18978]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF RICHARD CORDRAY

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Madam President, I come to the floor to put in 
a word for Richard Cordray, who has been nominated to lead the Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau, which is otherwise known as the CFPB. 
Nearly 2 months ago, I urged our leaders to prioritize a vote on the 
nominee because without a Director of the CFPB, there is important 
consumer protection work being left undone. It is work that would 
benefit hard-working Coloradans, those citizens of New Hampshire, and 
families all across our Nation.
  I wish to begin my remarks by thanking both the majority leader and 
the Republican leader for moving to this important nomination. After 
having done that, I wish to turn and speak directly to Coloradans and 
any other Americans who may be listening. We get up here as Senators, 
and we will

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talk about this agency or that agency. Frankly, at times it sounds as 
if an alphabet soup. But this agency is not just another alphabet 
agency. The CFPB may be one of the most important Federal agencies we 
have, and it should be allowed to open its doors fully and begin the 
important work of protecting our consumers. The CFPB was created in the 
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to protect American 
consumers from predatory and unfair financial practices. It was 
chartered to prevent the same kinds of abuses banks and other large 
financial firms engaged in as they drove our economy into the ditch 
just a few short years ago.
  When we look back at the financial collapse in 2008, many of us still 
cannot believe the largest banks and financial institutions in our 
country were able to put our economy at such risk. As drastic measures 
had to be taken and billions of dollars invested in these firms, it 
certainly didn't seem fair that banks and other financial institutions 
should get taxpayer help after having taken advantage of the good 
intentions of American consumers and, as a result, tanking our economy.
  The truth is we were forced to act in the Congress or even worse 
financial troubles awaited us--in fact, potentially a worldwide 
financial depression. That is why the Congress created the CFPB, to 
ensure that kind of abuse never happens again. When we passed the Wall 
Street Reform Act, Congress made clear its intent to create a watchdog 
with the responsibility to make the financial marketplace safe for 
consumers.
  I think the Presiding Officer would agree that is something we should 
all want, to make sure Americans are not being taken advantage of by 
big businesses and Wall Street bankers, to ensure someone is looking 
out for the little guy, to ensure there is slightly more of a level 
playing field for the Americans who play by the rules.
  Unfortunately, it is not. Many of our colleagues are raising a host 
of issues related to one central argument, that the CFPB will not be 
accountable to Congress and it will go hog wild in its efforts to look 
out for hard-working Americans. Yes, that is right. They argue the CFPB 
will have too much power to protect consumers. I know that seems 
strange to hear, especially after the banking sector abuses nearly sent 
our economy down an irrecoverable path and millions of Americans saw 
many of their investments and much of their net worth disappear 
overnight. But, yes, some of our colleagues actually want to weaken the 
consumer protections that were included in the Wall Street reform bill 
which, by the way, is the law of the land. In order to make sure that 
happens, they vow to block, to filibuster all nominees to head the 
CFPB, regardless of who they are. There have been blanket statements 
made at the front end of this effort that whoever the nominee is, that 
person will be blocked.
  It strikes me that by doing that, they think they are going to deny 
the CFPB a Director and that will erode the Bureau's effectiveness and 
make it easier for banks to operate without limitation. That is 
precisely why we have to overcome the filibuster that is being waged 
against Mr. Cordray right now. Without his leadership and a strong CFPB 
to look after the interests of consumers, we are going to put the 
financial security of hard-working American families at risk and the 
country's economic recovery at risk. By failing to give the CFPB a 
Director, a confirmed Director, we are actually reducing oversight of 
predatory lending and deceptive banking practices. These are practices 
that in no way help our economy or our economic recovery.
  I do not think I am stretching the facts saying this. Deceptive 
financial practices continue to threaten Americans every day, and we 
can do more to ensure these abuses are brought to an end. Let me focus 
on one particular area.
  Credit reporting agencies continue their deceptive ads on Web sites 
with misleading names such as www.freescore.com and 
www.freecreditscore.com that lure people into a costly credit 
monitoring service. They do not offer free credit scores at all. 
Instead, what they do is they take the person's credit card number and 
then they begin charging them a monthly fee. It is a similar hustle 
that many other too-good-to-be-true Web sites offer. The problem is 
this deceptive ad strikes at the heart of America's personal financial 
health. A person starts by doing the responsible thing--trying to check 
their credit score--but the next thing they know their credit card is 
being charged and they don't have that important data tied to their 
credit score.
  The point I am trying to make is without a confirmed director, the 
CFPB has diminished power to investigate the actions of the major 
credit reporting agencies and pull down these kinds of deceptive ads. 
That doesn't make any sense to me. It is sort of what Coloradans have 
been asking me, along these lines: When are you guys in DC, when are 
you guys in the Senate going to side with us and stop always looking 
out for the big banks?
  In these tough economic times, we need to do all we can to block such 
dishonest advertisements and help empower consumers to avoid these 
financial traps. The CFPB is the best way to accomplish these important 
goals, but it needs a director to be able to act.
  As some watching today know, and I hope Coloradans know, the Wall 
Street reform bill contained a bipartisan provision I authored that now 
requires lenders and other creditors to actually provide consumers a 
free credit score when their score is used to deny them credit or they 
are offered credit with less favorable terms.
  I authored this provision because credit scores are the most 
important and influential measure of a consumer's creditworthiness. As 
millions of Americans continue to work to repair their credit status in 
the wake of the Nation's worst financial collapse since the Great 
Depression, it is my belief that the CFPB must fully implement its 
congressionally appointed oversight of consumer credit scores and 
related products to stop deceptive advertisements and other setups. So 
I will say it again: In order to carry out this mission, the Senate 
must confirm a director to head the CFPB.
  The Consumers Union--one of the leading consumer advocates in the 
United States--is urging Congress to confirm Mr. Cordray so the 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can tackle other critical consumer 
protections such as reducing the penalty fees and punitive interest 
rates banks can charge, requiring credit rating agencies to maintain 
accurate consumer credit files, and investigate and fix errors reported 
by consumers. I know the Presiding Officer has heard stories about 
consumers who are operating in good faith and then they come to find 
out their credit files are not accurate and they are penalized because 
of that situation. The CFPB could require credit agencies to maintain 
accurate files.
  Finally, the CFPB could police the mortgage market to stop scams 
against consumers and prevent the return of the toxic loans and the 
dangerous lending practices that led to the foreclosure crisis and, 
ultimately, the recession.
  I don't think I am overstating the situation when I say there are 
still a slew of unsafe financial products and services in the 
marketplace. When consumers are lured into those traps, they then can 
get into a high-interest debt situation, and then that affects all of 
us. It affects our economic health more broadly. So the CFPB would be 
given the capacity to tackle these abusive and deceptive practices and 
then be on the lookout for the next breed of financial scam.
  For these reasons, it is my hope the Senate will take action quickly 
to confirm Mr. Cordray's nomination and then put in place an effective 
consumer financial watchdog to ensure Americans get the tools they need 
to take control of their own financial destinies. It will help our 
economy; it will help Americans; it will help small businesses. This is 
the right approach. Let's confirm this gentleman to head the CFPB.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

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  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Kansas.

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