Carolyn Maloney: “I thank the great leader from New York State for her leadership on this committee and in this great Congress, and for…”

“I thank the great leader from New York State for her leadership on this committee and in this great Congress, and for fighting every day for the American people and New York State. Madam Speaker, 1 year ago today, President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This landmark law helped restore faith in our institutions and markets, helped our economy, and helped consumers. Yet on this historic day, my friends on the other side of the aisle are doing everything they can to defund, defang, and derail the important consumer protection office. Now, what is this office supposed to do? It is going to make prices clear to consumers, risk clear to consumers, and make markets work for the American middle class families. We need this independent office. For too long, no one was looking out for consumers and we paid dearly for it in the financial crisis. But now with the CFPB, everyone who takes out a student loan, everyone who takes out a mortgage, everyone who takes out any financial product will have a financial consumer protection agency on their side. And we need this protection. Just yesterday, it was reported that one of our largest institutions received the largest fine ever, $84 million for illegally pushing borrowers into subprime mortgages--10,000 Americans in this suit alone--for falsifying loan documents. If a CFPB had been in place, that could have helped the 10,000 people.…”