Rep. Keith Ellison: Opposing the CFPB is “nonsense”

In less than two minutes, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison gives a detailed history of the financial crisis and an impassioned defense of the CFPB, calling claims of its Congressional detractors "nonsense." Youtube excerpt from his opening statement at yesterday's House Financial Services Committee's oversight subcommittee hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's budget. Ellison: "If your business model is not about bilking consumers,  you have nothing to worry about from the CFPB. But..."

In less than two minutes yesterday, watch U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (MN) give both a detailed history of the financial crisis and an impassioned defense of the CFPB, calling claims of its Congressional detractors “nonsense.” Youtube video excerpt from his opening statement at yesterday’s House Financial Services Committee’s oversight subcommittee hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s budget.

Excerpt from Rep. Ellison’s statement (total video less than 2 minutes): “[…] If your business model is not about bilking consumers,  you have nothing to worry about from the CFPB. But if your aim and your goal is to  hook ‘em and crook ‘em and take advantage of consumers, of course you’re horrified. And all this stuff about, ‘Oh, yeah, they got too much authority, they take in too much money, we can’t talk to them, we can’t control them,’ this is all nonsense.[…]”

At the hearing, CFPB director Rich Corday was the only witness. The full hearing video and his testimony are available here. As expected, no CFPB opponent was able to make any legitimate argument that the CFPB should be defunded, defanged or delayed.

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Ed Mierzwinski

Senior Director, Federal Consumer Program, PIRG

Ed oversees U.S. PIRG’s federal consumer program, helping to lead national efforts to improve consumer credit reporting laws, identity theft protections, product safety regulations and more. Ed is co-founder and continuing leader of the coalition, Americans For Financial Reform, which fought for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, including as its centerpiece the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He was awarded the Consumer Federation of America's Esther Peterson Consumer Service Award in 2006, Privacy International's Brandeis Award in 2003, and numerous annual "Top Lobbyist" awards from The Hill and other outlets. Ed lives in Virginia, and on weekends he enjoys biking with friends on the many local bicycle trails.

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