On the recordJuly 21, 2015
Mr. President, 5 years ago today, President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Act. Following the 2008 financial crisis, Washington passed this 2,300-page bill, creating more burdensome regulations that did not solve the crisis, and, in many ways, made it worse. You are going to hear a lot about the failures of the Dodd-Frank Act over the next few years. From what was intended to rein in five major banks who led us into trouble in the 2008 crisis, has created unintended consequences today that are affecting thousands of small town regional banks across our country. I rise today to speak about one agency created by the Dodd- Frank law, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or the CFPB. While many Americans may not have heard of the CFPB before, they will in the future. This agency touches every aspect of people's lives, from credit card records, mortgage applications, student loans, and car sales to much more. The CFPB seemingly knows more about American consumers than we know about the very agency that is supposed to be protecting them. According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, every month the CFPB scrubs data on credit card transactions, debit card transactions, consumer mortgage loans, car loans, and hundreds of thousands of other personal financial information. This leads to several questions. Why are they collecting this information in the first place? How does collecting credit card statements help protect consumers?…





