Political Quotes

“I want to start by commending Senator Whitehouse for his extraordinary leadership. For 5 years he has worked on this issue. He proved from the very beginning that he was open to consumer groups that came to talk to him about a problem, and he has been committed to helping working families and that has been his central goal. It is a great honor to stand this afternoon with Senator Whitehouse and to talk about a bill that can advance that goal--helping working families. For more than two centuries a State could pass a usury law and enforce it against anyone who was lending money in the State. Congress and Federal agencies played a central role in our banking policies, but our system allowed States to play an important role too. The States decided locally what were the highest interest rates they wanted their citizens to be charged. We honored the traditions of federalism, and things worked pretty well. The States protected their citizens. Consumer financial products, such as credit cards, were easy to understand and they were safe for consumers. They were not loaded with tricks and traps. That changed starting in 1978, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp. In that decision, the Court interpreted a banking law that Congress had passed back in 1863, and they decided the statute meant the States could not keep an out-of-State lender from charging high rates within the State.…”