Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1315, Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. DOGGETT. Only a year ago, Republicans were using every trick in the book to stop any Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And you know, they never really stopped. The party of Wall Street bailouts, of Big Bank buddies, remains determined to deny our families basic, effective protection from credit abuses.

The lyrics of Grammy Award Winner Steve Earle, who grew up in Schertz, on the edge of San Antonio, ring true for so many families. "You go to school and learn to read and write, so you can walk into the bank and sign away your life.'' Well, so many families were deceived in taking out mortgages or a credit card or a payday loan on terms in the fine print that only the big lenders understand. Many of these families were counting on a home, on a job, on a retirement plan, or maybe with their credit card, just to put clothes on the kids and food on the family's table.

Nobody was there to protect them from the tricks and traps that some creditors used to enrich themselves and to fleece consumers with loans with incredible interest rates. In too many of these transactions what were once known as "loan sharks'' can today legally ply their trade.

If you're mugged on the street, you can lose your wallet. But if you're mugged on Wall Street, you can lose a lifetime of savings. That's why we need this new squad of financial cops whose sole job will be to protect those who borrow from abuse.

With foreclosures at near record highs in San Antonio and in Austin, now is not the time for a retreat by consumer law enforcement. Oppose this latest Republican attempt to roll back the power of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and oppose the effort to take cops off the beat when we need them the most.

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