Politics

Senate Has A Plan To Dismantle Obama’s Consumer Protection Agency

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Twelve Republican senators are backing legislation to dismantle parts of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a signature law from former President Barack Obama and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Accountability Act of 2017, introduced Wednesday in the Senate by GOP Georgia Sen. David Perdue, would place the CFPB under congressional oversight. Currently, the CFPB’s budget is not subject to Congressional review, and the director of the agency enjoys broad regulatory authority unprecedented in other federal departments.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is a co-sponsor of Perdue’s bill, proposed his own legislation Tuesday that would completely abolish the CFPB. (RELATED: Ted Cruz Introduces Two-Page Bill To Abolish Warren’s Consumer Agency)

“Ever since the disastrous Dodd-Frank financial regulation law spawned the CFPB, we have witnessed a rogue agency more focused on expanding its power than protecting the public,” Perdue said in a statement. “Even the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agrees the CFPB is ripe for abuse and its current structure is unconstitutional. It is clear, the CFPB should be subject to more Congressional oversight so we know what they are doing and how they are using all the personal financial information they collect on American consumers.”

Hundreds of CFPB officials earn more money each year than any member of the Senate, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported on Feb. 7. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Gravy Train Flows Wide And Deep At Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Agency)

Warren describes the CFPB, created by the Dodd-Frank Financial Protection Act of 2011, as a financial cop walking a beat, and has criticized President Donald Trump and Republicans for trying to dismantle the agency.

“What Donald Trump wants to do is fire one of the most important financial cops and then say to the American people, you keep walking down this dark alley and, you know, what happens is what happens,” Warren said in a video earlier in February.

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