[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 8897-8898]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          CONSEQUENCES OF IRRESPONSIBLE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Rutherford). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Brown) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I take to the floor of the House 
today in opposition to H.R. 10, the so-called Financial CHOICE Act, 
which is more appropriately called the ``Wrongful'' CHOICE Act.
  Nearly a decade since the beginning of the financial crisis, my 
district is still dealing with the consequences of irresponsible, 
underregulated financial institutions targeting toxic subprime loans to 
unsuspecting borrowers. In Prince George's County, one-quarter of all 
mortgages were subprime.
  Nationally, Black homeowners were disproportionately affected by the 
foreclosure crisis, 80 percent more likely to lose their homes compared 
to other families with similar incomes and lifestyles. We later learned 
that several big banks had deliberately given people of color subprime 
mortgages. One such scandal-ridden bank, Wells Fargo, offered cash 
incentives for loan officers to peddle these, what they called ghetto 
loans to who they called mud people; in other words, Black customers, 
often single mothers.
  For families in my district, it wasn't just about losing your home. 
An entire generation of wealth was wiped out. The financial foundation 
for future generations collapsed and may never be rebuilt. Families 
can't start a family, save for college, or set aside for their own 
retirement.
  In the wake of the crisis, Democrats in Congress said, never again, 
and we took needed action to ensure that this sort of abusive behavior 
would never be repeated. We passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 
and Consumer Protection Act and created the Consumer Financial 
Protection Bureau to protect American consumers from the types of 
practices that led to this crisis.
  Now, even as the big banks, the creators of the financial crisis, are 
making record profits, the Financial CHOICE Act would once again give 
Wall Street permission to swindle working families and destroy the 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This would be extremely harmful 
for hardworking Americans across the country.
  Since its founding, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been 
a powerful ally of the little guy. It has delivered nearly $12 billion 
in relief to more than 29 million consumers harmed by predatory 
lenders, big banks, abusive debt collectors, and outright scammers.
  Our Nation's veterans and military families have been some of the 
major beneficiaries of the agency's work. The agency worked with state 
attorneys general to secure debt relief for 17,000 servicemembers 
tricked into taking out high-cost loans. It ordered Navy Federal Credit 
Union to pay $28.5 million for using illegal debt collection practices. 
It is suing Navient, the Nation's largest student loan company,

[[Page 8898]]

for illegal practices against millions of borrowers, including severely 
injured veterans.
  The Bureau has also addressed the discriminatory practices that 
impact communities of color in the financial system head-on. The agency 
acted against Ally Bank, Honda, and Toyota for charging higher interest 
rates for African-American, Latino, and Asian borrowers regardless of 
their credit score. It strengthened protections for families who depend 
on prepaid debit cards for their wages and often fall into a spiral of 
debt from payday and auto title loans. The Bureau continues to target 
banks who are denying loans to qualified borrowers of color across the 
country.
  Let's be clear: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is truly 
living up to its name.
  Mr. Speaker, nobody should want to return to a system that failed us 
and produced the financial crisis that damaged so many lives. Too many 
families and communities still carry the devastating scars of 2008, but 
that is exactly what the Financial CHOICE Act is trying to do. A rigged 
system is what led to the financial crisis, big banks got bailouts and 
sweetheart deals, and ordinary people suffered. That is why I am 
determined to oppose the Financial CHOICE Act, which seeks to roll back 
Wall Street reform and eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection 
Bureau. Voting against this bill is the right thing to do for my 
district and it is the right thing for America.

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