November, 18 2016, 01:30pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Email:,press@civilrights.org,Phone: (202) 869-0398
Civil and Human Rights Coalition Firmly Opposes Sessions Nomination for Attorney General
Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in response to the announcement that Senator Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., will be President-elect Trump's nominee for Attorney General, the office primarily responsible for enforcing our nation's civil rights laws:
WASHINGTON
Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in response to the announcement that Senator Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., will be President-elect Trump's nominee for Attorney General, the office primarily responsible for enforcing our nation's civil rights laws:
"This nomination is deeply troubling to Americans who care about equal protection under the law. Throughout his tenure in the Senate, Senator Sessions has been one of the chamber's leading antagonists of immigrants and the LGBT community, continuing his long record of obstructing civil rights that began in his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.
His record of hostility to voting rights as U.S. Attorney is particularly egregious. He called a White voting rights litigator a 'disgrace to his race,' retaliated against voting rights advocates by wrongly charging them with crimes, and proclaimed the Voting Rights Act 'intrusive.' He also once declared that the Ku Klux Klan was 'OK' but that the National Council of Churches, the NAACP, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were 'un-American.'
The Senate Judiciary Committee already rejected Senator Sessions' nomination for a federal judgeship in 1986 because of his established pattern of bigotry. People can certainly change over the course of 30 years, but despite glimmers of hope throughout his career--including his work on the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 - the overall record shows that Senator Sessions has not. He has no place leading our nation's enforcement of civil rights and voting rights laws or implementing our nation's desperately needed reforms to policing.
Either President-elect Trump should retract this announcement or the Senate should stand firm in rejecting another Sessions nomination."
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. Through advocacy and outreach to targeted constituencies, The Leadership Conference works toward the goal of a more open and just society - an America as good as its ideals.
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New Rule From Agency Trump Wants Destroyed Would Save Consumers $5 Billion Per Year in Overdraft Fees
One advocate called the CFPB's new rule "a major milestone in its effort to level the playing field between regular people and big banks."
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, one of President-elect Donald Trump's top expected targets as he plans to dismantle parts of the federal government after taking office in January, announced on Thursday its latest action aimed at saving households across the U.S. hundreds of dollars in fees each year.
The agency issued a final rule to close a 55-year-old loophole that has allowed big banks to collect billions of dollars in overdraft fees from consumers each year,
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The final rule is expected to save Americans $5 billion annually in overdraft fees, or about $225 per household that pays overdraft fees.
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The rule is set to go into effect next October, but the incoming Trump administration could put its implementation in jeopardy. Trump has named billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body he hopes to create. Musk has signaled that he wants to "delete" the CFPB, echoing a proposal within the right-wing policy agenda Project 2025, which was co-authored by many officials from the first Trump term.
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The Federal Reserve Board exempted banks from Truth in Lending Act protections in 1969, allowing them to charge overdraft fees without disclosing their terms to consumers.
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Government watchdog Accountable.US credited the CFPB with cracking down on overdraft fees despite aggressive campaigning against the action by Wall Street, which has claimed the fees have benefits for American families.
Accountable.US noted that Republican Reps. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and Andy Barr of Kentucky have appeared to lift their criticisms of the rule straight from industry talking points, claiming that reforming overdraft fee rules would "limit consumer choice, stifle innovation, and ultimately raise the cost of banking for all consumers."
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Consumers have saved $6 billion annually through the CFPB's initiative to curb junk fees, which has led multiple banks to reduce or eliminate their fees.
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President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Kari Lake, a far-right election denier and failed U.S. Senate candidate, to lead the federally funded international broadcast network Voice of America, a move that critics said underscores Trump's effort to transform government entities into vehicles to advance his own interests.
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Lake, a former television news anchor in Arizona who has echoed Trump's insidious attacks on journalists, wrote in response to the president-elect's announcement that she was "honored" to be asked to lead VOA, which she characterized as "a vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth." VOA, which is supposed to have editorial independence, has long faced criticism for its coverage and treatment of employees.
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