The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency that in just a few short years has provided nearly $12 billion in financial relief to about 27 million American consumers—money Wall Street and financial services companies have swindled out of us—is one of the many good things we can't have any more if Republicans have their way. For some damn reason, some Democrats are wondering if they should help dismantle it.
"At this point, it's impossible. They've tried to destroy [the CFPB] so many times, they've lost their credibility, really," said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), a veteran on the House Financial Services Committee. "That's their end game here."
Progressive groups are pushing Democrats to defend the bureau, the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The party's liberal base, still fuming over the 2016 elections, does not want to see any compromise with Republicans over policies won by the left during the Obama era. […]
Several House Financial Services Committee Democrats say backing a coalition, for example, could protect the agency from withering under a Trump appointee.
"I've been warning my party for a long time that at some point you're going to have a Republican president," said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). "I prefer a bipartisan commission."
Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) said he discussed backing a CFPB commission last year with Republican colleagues, but only if Cordray would be part of it and the commission wouldn't form until a majority of members were approved by the Senate.
What Lynch says—Republicans don't want to "improve" the CFBP any more than they wanted to "improve" Obamacare. They want to destroy it. They've wanted to since it was proposed by Elizabeth Warren and championed by President Obama precisely because it's part of their legacy and achievement. That and their buddies on Wall Street have been bitching incessantly about how they have to now not swindle their customers because there's a watchdog on the beat.
No, Democrats, do not be complicit in this. Resist. Resist it and win. If you don't win, you use it to run against Republicans in 2018 and 2020. Because what's easier to demonstrate just how beholden to Wall Street Republicans are than the side they picked in this fight.