Consumers First Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chairwoman, I rise today to offer an amendment to H.R. 1500, the Consumers First Act.

I thank Chairwoman Waters and my colleagues for their leadership in restoring essential functions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which this administration so recklessly rolled back.

During my years of work as a consumer protection attorney, I learned firsthand how strong consumer protection laws help to keep Americans financially secure. This administration's efforts to weaken the CFPB have harmed millions of people across the country, including young consumers and student borrowers.

I commend my colleagues for including in the original bill the restoration of the CFPB's Office of Students and Young Consumers, which this administration closed last year. Shutting down this office diminished the CFPB's mission and weakened its enforcement capabilities.

Before its closure, this office returned more than $750 million to students and student loan borrowers through actions against unscrupulous student loan servicers. They also helped more than 60,000 borrowers who submitted complaints about the student loan industry to the CFPB.

Notably, in January of 2017, the CFPB and the Office of Students and Young Consumers stood up to the Nation's largest student loan servicer, Navient, for misallocating payments and improperly steering borrowers away from income-based repayment plans.

The amendment I am offering today with my colleague, Congressman Harley Rouda, would build on this office's critical role in protecting young consumer students and student loan borrowers. This amendment would require the Assistant Director and Student Loan Ombudsman of the newly restored Office of Students and Young Consumers to issue an annual report to Congress on risks to young consumers and student borrowers.

Specifically, this report would analyze complaints that were submitted to the CFPB in the previous year by young consumers and student borrowers and offer an independent evaluation of the risks to this population as a result of policies and practices in the consumer financial products and services marketplace. This report will help us understand the risks that our young consumers and borrowers face, and it will help inform the work of Congress on how to best fight back against those who seek to prey on our Nation's young people.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chairwoman, I thank the gentleman for his bipartisan support. This is an issue that we all hear about from our constituents.

As a member of the Education and Labor Committee, I know that we are working hard on affordable higher education; but, in the meantime, we need to make sure that we are aware of the problems that so many student loan borrowers have. This amendment will help us get the information through a report, and I appreciate that this will help us inform our approach here in Congress, as well as get a better understanding of the practices of student loan services.

Again, I thank the gentleman for his bipartisan support, I thank Chairwoman Waters for her support of the amendment, I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source