Not-so-secret-Santas in Congress Using Spending Bill To Roll Back Health, Safety, Wallet Protections

With spending authorization for the federal government set to end on December 11, Congressional leaders are working with powerful special interests on their not-so-Secret-Santa lists to use spending bills as vehicles to gut health, safety and wallet protections popular with the general public but not with Wall Street or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They know they cannot win a fair fight. So they’re loading up the must-pass funding bill with so-called “riders,” which are unrelated policies that couldn’t get passed on their own. Everything we fought for in Wall Street reform, including the CFPB, is on the chopping block. So are many other PIRG health, safety, wallet and democracy priorities.

With spending authorization for the federal government set to end on December 11, Congressional leaders are working with powerful special interests on their not-so-Secret-Santa lists to use spending bills as vehicles to gut health, safety and wallet protections popular with the general public but not with Wall Street or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They know they cannot win a fair fight. That’s why they’re loading up the must-pass funding bills with so-called “riders,” which are unrelated policies that couldn’t get passed on their own. Everything we fought for in Wall Street reform, including the CFPB, is on the chopping block. So are many other PIRG health, safety, wallet and democracy priorities.

Without question, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) we fought alongside Elizabeth Warren to create as a centerpiece of Wall Street reform is a key target of the financial industry, which just doesn’t want a federal agency that works for consumers, not them. Attack tactics range from an over-the-top Soviet-themed video attacking the CFPB from a conservative political group to a November 19th letter (to Republican leaders only) signed by 24 bank and financial trade associations demanding that the CFPB be weakened by replacing its single-director with a highly-politicized and malleable 5-member commission. That letter was signed by numerous bank trades, but also by the Chamber as well as by lobbies for debt collectors, credit bureaus and other financial associations — such as land title, appraisal and escrow firms — that benefit from a lack of regulatory scrutiny. The letter is rife with mis-statements, including false claims re former Rep. Barney Frank and Senator Warren’s positions (rebutted in the links).

As Jim Lardner of our Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) coalition explains, the financial riders would also roll back the safety and soundness reforms enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. That AFR blog goes on to explain that the American public — on a broadly bi-partisan basis — is on our side.

One more thing these measures have in common: Financial interests are trying to push them into the budget because they would not look good as stand-alone measures that had to be debated in the light of day. In a joint letter to Congress last week, 166 consumer, labor, civil rights, community and faith-based organizations pointed out that a large majority Americans, regardless of political party, want financial regulation to be tougher not weaker; that finding, borne out by repeated polls, was most recently confirmed by a Washington Post/ABC News survey on the presidential contest, in which 67 percent of the respondents (58 percent of Republicans, 68 percent of independents and 72 percent of Democrats) said they would back a candidate calling for stricter financial regulation, while only 24 percent said they would back a candidate opposing stricter regulation.

That’s why the financial rollbacks are being orchestrated in a closed door, Trojan Horse, dead-of-night effort. So are other efforts to weaken priorities of PIRG and numerous other public interest organizations. That’s why we’ve joined 200+ groups in a No Riders, Clean Budget letter. Here are just a few threats:

That’s a sample. The list of Secret Santa gifts under consideration behind closed doors goes on and on. Members of the public need to tell Congress: No riders from Wall Street or the Chamber of Commerce or any other special interest organization that cannot convince Congress to pass them through the normal legislative process. Tell Congress to pass a clean budget, not to weaken our public protections or the agencies that implement and enforce them.

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Ed Mierzwinski

Senior Director, Federal Consumer Program, PIRG

Ed oversees U.S. PIRG’s federal consumer program, helping to lead national efforts to improve consumer credit reporting laws, identity theft protections, product safety regulations and more. Ed is co-founder and continuing leader of the coalition, Americans For Financial Reform, which fought for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, including as its centerpiece the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He was awarded the Consumer Federation of America's Esther Peterson Consumer Service Award in 2006, Privacy International's Brandeis Award in 2003, and numerous annual "Top Lobbyist" awards from The Hill and other outlets. Ed lives in Virginia, and on weekends he enjoys biking with friends on the many local bicycle trails.

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