On the recordJuly 14, 2014
I will tell you, Mr. Chair, if the Affordable Care Act, so-called ObamaCare, is the ultimate tempest for the Tea Party pot, then I guess the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB, is a very, very close second. Since assuming the majority in 2010, House Republicans have passed bill after bill to gut and undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Frankly, I have just lost track of all the bills and attempts by the majority to undermine our Nation's top financial consumer watchdog. It is well documented that Congress wanted its funding to be free of political influence when it created the Bureau. In order to protect the consumers, it needed to be free of political influence. So, Mr. Chair, my amendment strikes the provision in the Financial Services Appropriations bill, section 501, that the House is considering today, as it is nothing more than yet another effort by the majority to derail the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from its mission to protect consumers. Originally, I had my staff draft an amendment to delete sections 501 and 502, but after consulting with the CBO, I was informed that striking section 502 would score as a cost to the bill. I wanted to make sure that there would be no objection based on adding a cost to the bill, so in order to make my amendment in order, my amendment just strikes section 501 and not 502. Let me be clear, Mr. Chairman, both sections 501 and 502 of the bill before us today undermine the CFPB.…
