Ayanna Pressley: “Again, this is ultimately about honoring the very mission of the Bureau, and that is to put consumers first. I support…”

“Again, this is ultimately about honoring the very mission of the Bureau, and that is to put consumers first. I support H.R. 1500, and I urge all of my colleagues to support my amendment, which will be a further effort to protect consumers and to guard against the harassment that so many Americans are experiencing every day. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. McHENRY. Madam Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to say to the author of this legislation, I understand your intention. We have a rule that is out for comment right now to get the public feedback on this. Moreover, I would say, under existing law, harassment by debt collectors is not permitted, period, under current law. What is prevented, though, is somebody who is trying to collect debts from actually texting someone. That is a problem. I don't think that is the intention of this amendment, but that is the net effect, because the regulations put forward say that you can text, you can email, something that the Debt Collection Act, written before email, written before text messaging, did not contemplate. We are updating this so that people can be communicated with in a modern way. There is nothing more annoying than finding on your voice mail some random voice mail from somebody you have never heard of, and you are supposed to call this random person and provide them information. How about a text, right?…”