What's New
Draft Financial Reform Bill Proposed
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) released a draft of a comprehensive financial reform bill on Nov. 10.
Ed Mierzwinski,
U.S. PIRG's Consumer Program Director, said the bill is "a major step" and includes a strong Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
However, Mierzwinski warned, “despite the collapse of our economy due to a financial regulatory system that failed,” the bill still faces "a gauntlet of special-interest lobbyists looking for exceptions and loopholes.”
The companion House CFPA bill is ready for floor action after committee action in October. Despite a battering series of pernicious amendments, we were able to preserve the agency’s independence and the bill’s critical provision ensuring that federal law be reinstated as a floor not ceiling of protection, allowing states to do more to protect the public.
But, car dealers, who often make some of the most dangerous loans, and credit life, unemployment and disability insurance companies – whose products are virtually worthless – carved out critical exceptions from the agency’s coverage that need to be fixed.
Read
Ed Mierzwinski's Testimony Before the House Committee on Financial Services
Regarding Financial Regulatory Reform and the CFPA.
From now through the end of the year, U.S. PIRG and its allies at
Americans For Financial Reform will be building support for the CFPA and other parts of the reforms being proposed by Barack Obama's administration.



