On the recordSeptember 13, 2017
I thank the chairman's leadership on this, and, with all due respect to my friends on the other side of the aisle, this amendment is not about protecting consumers. This amendment is about protecting bureaucrats from accountability from the American people. You know, I don't know, for the life of me, why Members of Congress would not defend this institution, both Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the aisle defend this institution. Why on Earth would we give away the most complete and effectual power of Congress--as James Madison said, ``the power of the purse''--away to unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in the executive branch? When I asked Chair Yellen whether she approves the budget of the Bureau, she didn't know the answer to that basic question. We know that the CFPB is not accountable to the American people through their elected Representatives in Congress. That is by statutory design. That is what Dodd-Frank says. But we would hope that they would at least be accountable to the source of their funding, and they are not even accountable to the Fed. Defeat this amendment, support accountability, support the Constitution and restoring the power of the purse to the elected Representatives of the Congress.
