Elizabeth Warren with Alison Grimes in Kentucky—let's get a lot more of this!
Elizabeth Warren scares the crap out of a lot of people, most of them on Wall Street or in the Republican Party (not that those things are mutually exclusive). So what else would they make a
top priority if they retake the Senate besides trying to kill her brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The bureau's job is to make sure Americans aren't getting screwed by mortgage lenders, credit card companies, debt collectors, and other financial institutions. It's the first federal agency designed specifically to protect everyday consumers from financial wrongdoing, and Republicans have done everything in their power to hobble the agency—including fighting the confirmation of its director, Richard Cordray. Winning the Senate in November could be their best chance to roll back Warren's greatest accomplishment.
Half of their work is already done. The House has passed a bill that would limit the bureau's power by replacing its director with a five-member panel, and subjecting its budget to the congressional appropriations process—meaning that hostile lawmakers could starve it to death. (Unlike most federal agencies, the bureau is bankrolled by the Federal Reserve, an effort to free it from the whims of partisan politics.) House Republicans have also introduced legislation to let other financial regulators overturn CFPB rules, to eliminate a fund the bureau uses to compensate consumers who've been defrauded by an institution that's gone belly-up, and to restrict the kind of data the bureau may collect from consumers. (Republicans have charged that the CFPB's collection of credit data is a violation of privacy, even though the bureau does not collect any personal details the consumer doesn't volunteer.)
That would be just the first step in doing the banksters' bidding and rolling back the Dodd-Frank reforms. It's telling though, that the very first thing they would go after is consumer protection. Because they care a helluva lot more about Wall Street than they do about all us poor schlubs getting ripped off by the financial services industry. This is the perfect example of what Republicans are. For chrissakes, they are against
consumer financial protection!!! How much more clearly do they have to demonstrate who they answer to?
There's a reason Elizabeth Warren is so popular, has had such resounding success with her message. Some other Democrats running to keep the Senate right now might want to emulate that a little bit. Here's a perfect opportunity.