During this Thanksgiving time, many of us have taken stock of the things we’re grateful for.
Back in 2008, when the world was thrown into the worst global recession since the Depression, there weren’t a lot of bright spots on the horizon. If anything good came of that event, it was that it finally galvanized the political will to regulate the financial industry whose predatory practices catalyzed the economic crisis.
The success of the Dodd-Frank financial reform package and of the resultant Consumer Financial Protections Bureau has been both impressive and under-recognized. In the last five years the bureau has returned nearly $12 billion to 27 million consumers. Among its victories is a record $100 million penalty and consumer restitution against Wells Fargo for the creation of fraudulent consumer accounts.
Unfortunately, the CFPB is under threat from financial institutions and the legislators who do their bidding. U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler is on the House Appropriations Committee and can help ensure that this year’s budget gets passed without riders that would threaten the integrity of the CFPB. Banks can’t be left to their own devices, and Herrera Beutler needs to hear from her constituents.
