Providing for Congressional Disapproval of A Rule Submitted By Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Floor Speech
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Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of a bill that, frankly, is long overdue. While former CFPB Director Richard Cordray indicated in testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services that the Bureau's guidance was ``nonbinding,'' the damage was already done.
The Bureau's attempt to regulate an industry that the Dodd-Frank Act specifically told them they could not regulate is the very reason our committee has worked tirelessly to bring accountability to an agency that has none. Sadly, this guidance has become symbolic for everything that is wrong with the CFPB.
So why are we here today? Why does this Congress care about guidance put out in 2013?
Let me read section 1029 from the Dodd-Frank Act: ``the Bureau may not exercise any rulemaking, supervisory, enforcement or any other authority, including any authority to order assessments, over a motor vehicle dealer that is predominantly engaged in the sale and servicing of motor vehicles. . . . ''
Unfortunately, we have seen, time and time again, an agency that is willing to issue regulation by enforcement. Since the 2013 guidance came out, the Bureau has issued over $200 million in out-of-court settlements to auto lenders based on guidance that was flawed from the very start.
As chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, our staff has issued multiple reports detailing the Bureau's baseless enforcement agenda. Because of their work, the CFPB can no longer hide behind, as one report noted, junk science.
I thank the chairman, and I urge all my colleagues to support this bipartisan effort.
Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the gentlewoman to continue reading so that she can see, under the CFPB rule, that they have the ability to oversee the lending; and what she is talking about is the exemption of the automobile dealers, themselves, but not the lenders.
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