Executive Orders Threaten CFPB, Other Critical Wall Street Reforms

Media Contacts

U.S. PIRG

This statement can be attributed to Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director.

“In 2008, reckless and under-regulated Wall Street practices led to the second largest economic collapse in our nation’s history. Millions lost homes, millions more lost jobs and millions more lost trillions of dollars in retirement savings. Now, under the direction of Gary Cohn, a Wall Street general from Goldman Sachs installed in the White House National Economic Council, the President is expected to sign executive orders today that will begin the re-rigging of the system for special interests. These orders will begin the dismantling of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act  that protects consumers, taxpayers, depositors, fair-dealing companies and the economy from more reckless practices. One order will also attempt to delay the Department of Labor’s recent “best-interest” rule protecting retirement savers from having their pockets picked by Wall Street banks and insurance companies.

We will fight to protect Wall Street reform and the highly-successful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency at the front lines of consumer protection that has been targeted by big Wall Street banks, debt collectors and even payday lenders because it works for consumers, not them. We will also defend the CFPB’s extraordinary director, Richard Cordray. We cannot let Wall Street convince the President and Congress to re-rig the system so they win and everyone else loses.”

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Note: Also see my joint column today on the CFPB, “Doing Its Job — And Under Attack, co-written with Lisa Donner of Americans for Financial Reform.