[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 8898-8899]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       BAD ACTORS ON WALL STREET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, less than 10 years ago in 2008, bad 
actors on Wall Street brought the economy of our country to the brink 
of collapse. Because of their greed, recklessness, and deceit, millions 
of Americans lost their jobs, families were thrown out of their homes, 
and seniors saw their life savings evaporate before their very eyes.
  Washington bailed out the big banks and they said they were too big 
to fail, but the American people never got a bailout. The American 
people were told: You are on your own. And in seven States, including 
my home State of Rhode Island, we are still working to recover jobs 
that were lost in this Great Recession. That is why it was so important 
2 years later when Congress passed and President Obama signed into law 
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.
  This law was a landmark victory for the American people, especially 
the American consumer. That is why it is so disturbing that Republicans 
now want to take us back to the days of too big to fail, a time when 
powerful Wall Street special interests exploited consumers and small 
investors, and our entire economy was put at risk.
  The bill before us today, which I call the ``Wrong'' CHOICE Act, will 
turn Wall Street into the Wild West again and it will empower the big 
banks to do what they want at the expense of honest, hardworking 
families. This bill takes us back to an era when financial institutions 
could wipe out someone's retirement and foreclose on innocent 
homeowners completely unchecked. This bill repeals commonsense 
requirements that require financial advisers to act in the best 
interests of their clients. It will allow bad actors to push bad 
products on working people and seniors in exchange for paybacks.
  This bill protects forced arbitration clauses and allows companies to 
require their customers to waive their right to a jury trial, and deny 
them their day in court when their rights are violated.
  By the way, that includes servicemembers, brave men and women who 
have worn the uniform of the American Armed Forces. Unfortunately, 
servicemembers and veterans are often targeted for financial fraud and 
unscrupulous creditors because they are held to a higher standard of 
debt repayment. In addition, their frequent time away from home makes 
it harder for our servicemembers to identify scams.
  The CFPB has already taken at least 12 major enforcement actions 
directly protecting servicemembers and their families. In 2016, the 
CFPB fined Navy Federal Credit Union $28 million for illegal debt 
collection tactics. The CFPB took action against two for-profit 
colleges, ITT Technical Institute and Corinthian Colleges, both of 
which have been linked to predatory treatment of servicemembers and 
veterans. The now-defunct Corinthian was ordered to provide $480 
million in debt relief to defrauded students, including servicemembers.
  In 2013, the CFPB ordered high-cost, small-dollar lender Cash America 
to pay up to $14 million in restitution and a $5 million penalty for 
violations of the Military Lending Act.
  Just 2 months ago, CFPB sanctioned an auto lender that harassed and 
preyed on servicemembers. Security National Automotive Acceptance 
Company threatened that they would contact commanding officers about 
debts that our veterans incurred, and lied to our brave men and women 
in uniform about their obligations, and they have been held accountable 
because of the CFPB.
  The CFPB was created to protect families and small businesses, and 
since 2010, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has returned 
nearly $12 billion to 29 million consumers in all 50 States. More than 
1 million consumers have used the CFPB's complaint database, and nearly 
all of them have received a timely resolution to their issues.

                              {time}  1015

  The CFPB held Wells Fargo accountable to the tune of $100 million 
after they opened millions of fraudulent accounts for customers without 
telling them. Wells Fargo surreptitiously collected fees from these 
victims, and every dime was returned to consumers because the CFPB was 
on the job.
  The sole purpose of CFPB's existence is to ensure that bank loans, 
mortgages, and credit cards are fair, affordable, understandable, and 
transparent. That is exactly what it is doing. Republicans want nothing 
more than to kill it.

[[Page 8899]]

  No honest, hardworking American should be exploited when they are 
taking out a mortgage, trying to pay off their college debt, buying a 
car, or opening a bank account, but that is what is going to happen if 
Republicans get their way today. Passage of this bill will confirm what 
so many Americans believe: that Washington works for big business, the 
very rich, and powerful special interests, but not for them.
  Let's remind ourselves that the American people sent us to Washington 
to work for them. They didn't send us here to fight for the big banks 
and credit card companies that already have too much power here in 
Washington.
  Reject this bad bill. Vote for the American people. Protect 
consumers, and very strongly vote ``no.''

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