Reaction Begins To Come In To House Committee’s Approval Of CFPA

The group known as "Americans for Financial Reform" is right out of the gate with a statement on the passage by the House Financial Services Committee earlier today of a bill providing for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Opponents undoubtedly will be criticizing the bill, but here’s what AFR’s director, Heather Booth, says: 

“The action by the House Financial Services Committee marks a major turning of the tide against decades of big banks’ systematic dismantling of the financial protections put in place after the Great Depression. Chairman Frank has done a masterful job in working to preserve President Obama’s vision for an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency to stand up for everyone who has ever signed on the bottom line to open a checking account, take out a mortgage or use a credit card.
 
“In the face of the economic catastrophe that has befallen this country – a catastrophe that was both foreseeable and preventable with regulation – the fact that some of the Chairman and the President’s priorities had to be compromised speaks not to legitimately competing interests but to the mind-boggling sums of money the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association and other special interests spent lobbying against the interests of the rest of us. We fought them to a draw on many fronts including around allowing states to raise standards above the federal floor where necessary.  There are other places where the bill needs to be strengthened. The fight continues: we will continue to push for the improvements we need for an agency that can do its vital job for all of us.
 
“The power of the big banks in Washington is old news. What’s new is that ordinary Americans have come together to fight back, forming a powerful alliance and working together to preserve the essential structure of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.”
 

We'll post the differing view as soon as we see one.