[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17338-17339]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PROTECTING VETERANS AND SERVICEMEMBERS

  (Mr. TAKANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, with Veterans Day 1 week from today, I rise 
to

[[Page 17339]]

call attention to an issue affecting military families across the 
country.
  In 2006, Congress enacted the Military Lending Act to protect 
servicemembers from predatory lenders, but those same protections are 
not in place for veterans and their families. As a result, veterans 
often fall victim to payday lenders who offer unaffordable loans, 
forcing them even deeper into debt.
  In 2013, California payday lenders generated three-quarters of their 
revenue from borrowers who took out seven or more loans. The Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau should use its authority to crack down on 
the worst abuses in the payday loan market.
  Veterans and their families have made tremendous sacrifices to keep 
us safe. The least we can do is protect them from unethical lenders who 
deliberately trap them in a cycle of debt.

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