Washington, D.C. — In response to a legislative markup session for the the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Transparency and Accountability Reform Act, legislation that includes the Taking Account of Bureaucrats’ Spending (TABS) Act, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“The CFPB Transparency and Accountability Reform Act is a blatant attempt by predatory financial players to silence the CFPB so they can freely cheat hardworking Americans,” said Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “We cannot allow debt collectors, payday lenders, and other exploitative financial institutions to undermine the CFPB’s ability to protect consumers, including older Americans and members of the military, from financial harm. The CFPB’s funding structure through the Federal Reserve, not appropriations, is a critical component of its independence and effectiveness. We urge Congress to reject this legislative package and support the CFPB’s ongoing efforts to enforce the law to protect consumers and small businesses.”

With the passage of the Consumer Financial Protection Act in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, Congress established the CFPB, to protect Americans from abuse in the consumer financial industry, expressly authorizing the agency to draw its budget from the Federal Reserve System.

The CFPB Transparency and Accountability Reform Act is a larger legislative package that undermines the funding structure and work of the CFPB. In addition to including the TABS Act, which would move the CFPB to be funded through appropriations, the bill changes the FTC’s leadership structure and its authority by requiring procedural barriers.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.