Consumers First Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARR. Mr. Chair, I thank Ranking Member McHenry for yielding.

Mr. Chair, this legislation, H.R. 1500, the so-called Consumers First Act, neither puts consumers first nor puts in place the reforms that are needed to make the CFPB a stronger and more accountable regulatory agency. In reality, this bill is an attempt to politicize consumer protection.

It represents my Democratic colleagues' genuine expression of frustration with the current CFPB leadership, but that frustration is misdirected, Mr. Chair. That frustration really is more about their inability to provide meaningful oversight over this Bureau, a Bureau that they themselves created in the Dodd-Frank law.

I would submit that my Democratic friends' frustration should not be directed at former Acting Director Mick Mulvaney or current Director Kathy Kraninger. Their frustration is, in fact, a product of the very structure, the very flawed structure, that they themselves created and now stubbornly defend.

Today's legislation does absolutely nothing to address the fundamental structural flaws of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which could be remedied on a bipartisan basis with simple reforms that my Republican colleagues and I have supported since the Bureau's creation.

I think, now that the leadership has shifted and there is a new administration with new appointees in the leadership, many of my Democratic friends are having regrets about the structure that they originally created.

What would be the reforms that we should together as a body on a bipartisan basis support? A bipartisan commission; subjecting the Bureau to congressional appropriations with my legislation, the Taking Account of Bureaucrats' Spending Act, which would restore the power of the purse over this agency; an independent inspector general, which would hold leadership of either party accountable.

Mr. Chair, this is just a messaging bill. It is not a true attempt to legislate. This bill does nothing to get at the lack of accountability of this Bureau.

To further make this point, my friend, the chairwoman, talks about the need to add supervisory authority to the Bureau over enforcement and compliance with the Military Lending Act, but the bill doesn't do that. I have a bill that does that. In fact, I offered the bill as an amendment, but Monday night, in the Rules Committee, they made this amendment out of order.

This is not about actually giving the Bureau supervision over the Military Lending Act. If they really wanted that, they would have approved my amendment. We would be voting on my amendment to give the Bureau supervisory authority over enforcement of the Military Lending Act.

But, no. This is just about making a political point. Sure, they have findings that there should be supervisory authority over Military Lending Act compliance. Well, then why not make this Republican amendment in order to make it a bipartisan bill?

They don't want a bipartisan bill. They want a political message.

This reaffirms our point that this legislation is not about consumer protection. It is not about putting consumers first. It is about politics. It is about giving lip service to protecting our servicemembers while excluding the necessary action to actually do it.

Mr. Chair, I encourage a ``no'' vote on this bill. Let's roll up our sleeves. Let's defend this institution. Let's work together in a bipartisan way to truly enact the reforms, the structural reforms that will strengthen consumer protection that will make this Bureau accountable to the American people through their elected representatives.

Let's make this a bipartisan commission. Let's give this institution, both Republicans and Democrats, the power of the purse over this agency so that when a Director from the Trump administration is in place, this body will have the ability to provide meaningful oversight, and when there is a Democratic appointee heading this agency, this body will also be able to exercise meaningful oversight.

Mr. Chair, I urge a ``no'' vote. Let's do real reforms. Let's not just make political points.

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