October, 22 2009, 03:51pm EDT
In Approving New Agency, Lawmakers Take Significant Step Toward Protecting Consumers, Addressing Causes of Economic Crisis
Statement of David Arkush, Director, Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division
WASHINGTON
Note: Today, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 3126, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) Act, sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), by a vote of 39-29.
Today the House of Representatives took a significant step toward addressing some of the root causes of our current economic crisis - the exploding mortgages and abusive lending tactics that are robbing Americans and undermining the broader economy. The House Financial Services Committee has reported out the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) Act, which would create a much-needed consumer watchdog to curb abusive lending practices.
The bill is strong in many significant respects. It establishes a robust, independent agency that has each type of authority it needs to perform well - rulemaking, enforcement and examination authority. Consumer advocates also successfully fought off the greatest challenge to the agency in committee, an attempt to make the new agency's rules supersede state consumer protection laws. The bill contains several excellent provisions, such as best-practice whistleblower protections for millions of employees in the financial sectors and authority for the CFPA to limit forced arbitration in lending contracts.
At the same time, the bill has shortcomings that must be fixed in the full House and in the Senate, such as an exemption for auto dealers and less-than-full examination and enforcement authority over banks that hold 20 percent of the nation's deposits. We look forward to working with the House leadership and consumer advocates in the Congress to strengthen the CFPA bill.
Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Reps. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), Melvin Watt (D-N.C.) and Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) deserve gratitude for their hard work and leadership in moving this bill out of committee.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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