Sherrod Brown

Will you commit, absolutely commit, contrary to Secretary Mnuchin, that the Fed will not raise the $50 billion intermediate holding company threshold

It is like a game of Jenga. You are pulling out piece after piece, and soon enough the entire foundation is going to collapse

I think your proposals are radical enough that you have not.

The decisions being made now may lead us to the next crash.

When Washington dismantles protections, Wall Street always cheers. Ultimately, Main Street pays the price.

The Fed missed the crisis the last time. It had the power to rein in predatory mortgage lending; it did not.

But I used the example of tobacco. In 1964, when the U.S. Surgeon General first came out against it, so first recognized tobacco as a public health crisis, 45 percent of American adults smoked; last year, it was down to 15.

I spoke at the Cleveland City Club the other day about opioids and our government looking at it in a big, comprehensive, public health way.

I encourage you to solicit input and feedback... from the States as you move forward with this guidance.

Eleven people died on Tuesday, 11 people died yesterday, 11 people will die today, and 11 people will die tomorrow, on the average, as you know.

I am hopeful we can move faster in your appointment than this Senate, this Committee, and the U.S. Senate moved on your predecessor's 2014 appointment.

The reason we are here today is that there was a financial crisis 10 years ago caused by predatory lenders, and that crisis cost millions of Americans their jobs and their homes.

I hope that you will move aggressively.

But, again, we do not comment on the OIRA process.

You claim to want CFPB to be data-driven. You have told staff, 'There is a lot more math in our future.'

But with less necessity because they are not doing the kind of work that their predecessors were doing.

But for career people as opposed to political people.

Is the CFPB still subject to a hiring freeze?

Why, against the advice of nonpartisan CFPB staff, did you drop a lawsuit against those four payday lenders?

The CFPB used that power, in a good way mostly, to get $12 billion in relief for 29 million Americans.

To say there is no oversight is, I think, a bit of a reach

Congress should not fall for it. We have seen that the CFPB can be a real, positive voice and force for American consumers.

That is why we created the CFPB. Its job is clear: to fight for hardworking families against unfair, abusive, and deceptive practices, the tricks and traps that some financial institutions design in order to line their pockets.

The lesson from 2008 is simple: If we do not protect hardworking Americans from powerful Wall Street banks and financial scammers, it can bring down our entire economy.

Will you increase transparency with Congress on the Department's position on Agent Orange, presumptive conditions on Blue Water Navy veterans' eligibility for benefits and to establish a process to diagnose constrictive bronchiolitis, a…