Let the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Continue to Receive Funds from the Federal Reserve
- by: Freya H
- recipient: U.S. Treasury Secretary, U.S. Senate
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been a godsend to the average American over the past six years. It has successfully returned nearly $12 billion to roughly 29 million consumers. Broken down, that amounts to one-eleventh of the American population recovering an average of over $400 after being cheated by wealthy companies. That's no small feat.
Despite all of the CFPB's victories thus far, Republicans have taken the side of big business and decided to try to cripple the agency's ability to take corporations to task. Conservatives' main excuses against keeping the CFPB is that it operates independently and is therefore not accountable to our elected officials. Additionally, Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin doesn’t think it's appropriate for it to be funded out of the Federal Reserve.
While other agencies that have power to regulate businesses exist, they are saddled with other responsibilities that take more of a priority. By devoting an agency specifically to looking out for consumers, it's one of the first times in recent history that that type of work was being done efficiently.
If indications are right and Trump does decide to trash the CFPB, it'll be a slap in the face to the voters who bought his campaign promises of looking out for lower and middle class Americans rather than being beholden to big business interests.
We the undersigned ask that you allow the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to continue receiving funds from the Federal Reserve. The CFPB has proven to be vital in protecting regular Americans from the abuses of big corporations, such as when Wells Fargo created phony accounts and charged its customers for them. The fact that the CFPB operates independently and is thus not beholden to any elected official makes it all the more potent a weapon against the abuse of consumers.
Residents of the United States need the CFPB to protect them from being cheated by powerful corporations. Leave this valuable agency alone and let it do its work.
