RESTORING CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTIONS:

Voting 231 for and 191 against, the House on May 22 passed a Democraticsponsored bill (HR 1500) that would restore Consumer Financial Protection Bureau powers watered down or abandoned by the Trump administration. The bureau was created by the 2010 DoddFrank law as an independent agency to protect consumers against predatory practices in matters involving credit cards, unsecured payday lending, debt collection, mort

gages and auto financing. The administration has reined in the bureau by subjecting it to White House direction, freezing its staffing and cutting its budget while reducing oversight functions and scaling back enforcement activity.

In part, the bill would restore supervisory and enforcement powers to the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity; reconstitute an office charged with overseeing the student loan industry; increase rank-and-file staff levels; eliminate slots created for political appointees; resume aggressive regulation of payday lenders; and strengthen enforcement of the Military Lending Act, which caps interest rates on payday and auto loans to military families. The measure would also require the bureau to once again publicize student loan fees charged by large banks, reopen public access to a database of 1 million-plus consumer complaints, and resurrect and expand the agency’s Consumer Advisory Board.

A yes vote was to send the

bill to the Senate.

ARKANSAS

Voting no: Westerman

TEXAS

Voting no: Gohmert, Ratcliffe