Washington, D.C. — In a pair of votes in the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) and United States Senate this week, Congressional Republicans moved to roll back two critical rulemakings from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—one ensuring tech giants are held to the same digital payment standards that banks and credit unions are, and another rule capping exploitative overdraft fees. In response, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“In a blatant handout to big tech monopolies, every single Senate Republican aside from Senator Josh Hawley just voted to roll back oversight of digital payment giants,” said Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Americans increasingly rely on digital platforms and apps to make payments, and it’s only fair that these platforms are held to the same standards as banks. But instead of ensuring fair competition and strong consumer protections, Senate Republicans just gave Big Tech—including Elon Musk’s X—a green light to develop ‘super apps’ that exploit users, debank consumers, evade accountability, and manipulate digital payments for their own financial gain. This is not the populist agenda that President Trump ran on—it’s a blatant giveaway to corporate power at the expense of the American people.”

“Especially at a time when most Americans are struggling with high costs and nervous about the economy, Republicans are paving the way for powerful financial and tech interests to rob their constituents blind,” Harper added. “High overdraft fees are unnecessary and exploitative, and consumers supported the CFPB finally closing a legal loophole to ban these fees and save them billions of dollars. In overturning this rule as well, Congress is handing those banks a license to rip off consumers once again.”

The votes come at a time when new polling indicates that two thirds of Americans support the CFPB and its enforcement to protect consumers. Despite this clear public support, the CFPB under the Trump administration has moved aggressively to dismantle its enforcement capabilities, shutting down its Washington headquarters, allowing a backlog of consumer complaints, firing hundreds of employees, and dropping key lawsuits that would have held corporations accountable.

Congress is advancing the roll back of these rules under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Following the vote to roll back the overdraft rule, the measure will advance to the full House and then Senate for a vote. Meanwhile, the roll back of the digital payments rule will advance to the House. As they advance to their respective chambers, members will once again decide whether to vote in the best interest of the American people or the powerful corporate interests ripping them off.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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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.