House Stands Up For Consumers, Small Businesses and Taxpayers; Votes For Financial Reform

Statement from Michael Calhoun President of the Center for Responsible Lending

Washington, D.C. – "We are very pleased the U.S. House of Representatives has taken an important step toward restoring our country's financial stability by voting to pass the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173). The bill would provide consumers with significant protections from the industry practices that dismantled our economy and those of countries around the world.

We commend the House for this vote to protect families and small business from unfair, unsafe financial practices. However, we remain concerned that the bill allows the same federal banking regulators whose inaction led to the current crisis to continue to ignore state law. That must be fixed as the legislation moves forward.

We applaud the defeat of an amendment that would have replaced the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, the cornerstone of the financial reform package, with a council of existing regulators. We now look forward to working with the Senate to pass similar legislation so consumers and taxpayers won't have to suffer another financial crisis.

Meaningful regulatory reform requires a strong, independent CFPA that can set commonsense standards in the financial services arena. Any reform must also restore states' ability to identify and stamp out problems locally before they become national."

For more information: Kathleen Day at (202) 349-1871 or kathleen.day@responsiblelending.org; Ginna Green at (510) 379-5513 or ginna.green@responsiblelending.org; or Charlene Crowell at (919) 313-8523 or charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.