Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUFFY. I want to take a moment and thank Chairman Bachus and Chairwoman Capito for their hard work on this legislation and for their drive to make sure that this bill came to the floor today.

All of us in this House agree that we want consumer protections, where any one of our friends or family members, our neighbors and our constituents, when they deal with a financial institution, they are dealt with in a fair way and in a transparent way. Our reform here to the CFPB does exactly that; it advances that very same cause.

I want to talk about a couple of the components of this bill. One is we are moving this from a director to a bipartisan commission. I think it's important to note that my friends on the other side of the aisle, when they first crafted this bill, the ranking member, they included a bipartisan commission. And the President, when he talked about this bill, he was in favor of a bipartisan commission. And now all of a sudden today, as we have brought this back up, they are now opposed to a bipartisan commission.

I think it's important that we note that today you may have a Democrat President and you might like the recommendation for the Director of the CFPB, but if I'm going to project in the future, I am one to guess that I bet at one point in our future there will be a Republican President, and you may not like his appointee.

Let's come together. Let's not regret this moment. Let's come together and make sure we have a bipartisan commission that is going to work on behalf of consumers, because this isn't a Republican or Democrat issue, it is truly an American issue that should be dealt with on a commission level.

One other key component of our legislation is the review standard of rules that come from the CFPB. The way it is set up right now, the only way a rule can be overturned is if we are going to have Armageddon in the financial industry. And so the only one that can have a rule overturned is a big bank on Wall Street, one who is too big to fail.

The way it is currently written, you have given a voice to those people who helped cause this financial crisis. You know what? I'm not from Wall Street, I am from small town, rural Wisconsin. We don't have big Wall Street banks, we have small community banks and we have credit unions. The way the current bill is written--not mine, the one that's in existence today, the current law--it doesn't give a voice to the people in my community if a rule that comes out from the CFPB is going to affect them negatively.

And you know what? On Main Street, the very people who had nothing to do with the financial crisis, who haven't been given a voice--but will if my bill passes--those are the people who deal with our small business owners, with our family members, people who are looking at expanding their business, growing their business, creating jobs in our community. They rely on community banks and credit unions for loans, and they don't have a voice. I don't understand that. And then the same people that we look to when we want a mortgage for our home or we want a car loan, it's these people we look to, and they have been left voiceless in the current law. But my bill gives a voice to Main Street America. I have to say, the point I don't think can be made clearer with those who support my bill. I don't have big Wall Street support for my bill, but I'll tell you what support I do have. I have the Community Bankers of Wisconsin, I have the Wisconsin Bankers Association, I have the Independent Community Bankers of America, American Bankers Association, I have the Consumer Bankers Association. All those who are about small community banks that deal with customers support this reform.

We go a step further. We have the Wisconsin Credit Union League, the Credit Union National Association, and the National Association of Credit Unions, all people who didn't have any role in this financial crisis, all people in our communities who are looking out for consumers because if they don't, they don't survive in small town America, and they all support this reform legislation.

I would encourage all of my colleagues to jump onboard and support commonsense reform that is going to strengthen consumer protection and provide great oversight for a very powerful agency, and it's going to hold it accountable.

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Mr. DUFFY. I think it is important to note the reason that oversight of the CFPB wasn't included in the original legislation, that being that the CFPB doesn't have to consider safety and soundness when they're making rules. Safety and soundness is the gold standard when we look at our banking industry and how it effectively works within our society. Because that was not included--we just looked at consumer protection--I think the rationale was that, well, we should have an outside group review each rule that comes out to make sure it will not undermine our financial sector.

I have to tell you I am quite amazed, though. My friends across the aisle drafted a bill that includes a review process, a review process that only gives a voice to big banks on Wall Street, that only gives a voice to those banks that are too big to fail. So I come out with a commonsense reform. I say, Listen. Let's just not give a voice to your friends on Wall Street. Let's give a voice to the small community banks in rural Wisconsin, to small credit unions in rural Wisconsin. Let's give them a voice, too. Then when we do that, when we make that proposal, Mr. Chairman, it seems like they want to take their ball and go home. They say, Well, if you want to give a voice to small community banks, then no one should have a voice to express their concern for a rule that could be harmful.

I mean, when you look at small community banks that are already overregulated, small community banks and credit unions which had nothing to do with the financial crisis but are going to be stuck dealing with over 2,000 pages of rules from Dodd-Frank, let's give them a voice to come here and say, This is how these rules will impact and affect us.

So I would say to my friends across the aisle, don't take your ball and go home. Let's actually work together and find a way in which we can give a voice to those banks and those credit unions that don't currently have one.

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Mr. DUFFY. I think one of the reasons we modified the rule is that right now, with the two-thirds majority, you basically need seven out of 10 votes to overturn what would be a harmful rule. In the way the law is currently written, one of the voting members is the director of the CFPB, making the standard that much more difficult.

If we're talking about harmful rules to our community banks and our credit unions, let's make sure we have a simple majority that can step in and overturn those rules. Why do we want to set a standard so high that it can't be overturned? It's nearly impossible to overturn it.

And I would commend my friends on the other side of the aisle to make sure there was a review process in the CFPB. But no law is ever perfect, and with that, I think we should come forward today and say how can we better perfect this rule to work for our consumers? And having a simple majority to overturn a rule that could be harmful coming from the CFPB does exactly that.

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Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my point of order, and I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The point of order is withdrawn.

The gentleman from Wisconsin is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Speaker, this motion on the floor today is just a political stunt that is going to undo the goodwill of my bill. Let's be clear, after nearly 20 hours of hearings and debates in our subcommittee and in our committee, this issue specifically has not been raised by my friends across the aisle. And then today, we spent nearly 3 hours on the floor and not once was this specific issue raised. This is no more than political theater.

But I have good news for my friends across the aisle, because in our committee we dealt with a similar issue, one where I made a motion to designate one of five commissioners to specifically deal with the protection of our seniors. The bad news is that every Democrat voted against that amendment.

Let's be clear. Everybody in this House wants to make sure their friends, their family members, their neighbors and constituents, when they deal with banks, their transactions are fair and transparent. We want to make sure of that. But I want to specifically talk about one very important issue that is raised in my bill that fixes the underlying law, because when you look at the CFPB as currently written, there is the ability to have rules reviewed, but the only way a rule can get reviewed is if you are a big bank on Wall Street. If you are one of those banks that participated in the financial crisis, if you are a big bank that is too big to fail, the way the underlying law has been written, Mr. Speaker, you have a voice with the way the current law is written with the CFPB.

What my bill does is it actually gives a voice to small community banks and credit unions who deal with families all across America.

Mr. Speaker, my bill doesn't just give a voice to Wall Street banks, the big banks. What my bill does is it gives a voice to small community banks, gives a voice to credit unions. So if a rule comes out that affects negatively the small community banks and the credit unions, they have a voice to ask that it be overturned. And it's those very small banks and credit unions that our families across this country look to when they want to get a loan for a car or mortgage for their home. Not only that, it's those small banks and credit unions that give capital to small businesses that expand and grow and create jobs for our hardworking families right here in America.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is commonsense reform. This is reform that is going to do justice to the CFPB. I would ask that you join with me and Main Street America and vote against this motion to recommit and vote for the underlying bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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