If a handful of Republicans in the Senate have their way, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will not exist for much longer, as for at least the third time in the last few years, Republicans are trying to kill the CFPB.
And just like the two previous times it’s been attempted, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is leading the way.
Cruz on Tuesday announced that he is reintroducing a bill, titled the “Repeal CFPB Act,” which would do exactly that: eliminate the CFPB.
As stated above, this is Cruz’s third time to try to legislatively destroy the CFPB.
Back in 2015, Cruz introduced a bill in the Senate that would have eliminated the CFPB, calling the CFPB a “runaway agency.” The bill did not pass, and in 2017, Cruz tried again.
“During the Obama administration, the CFPB grew in power and magnitude without any accountability to Congress and the people, and I am encouraged by the actions President Trump has begun to take to roll back the harmful impacts of an out-of-control bureaucracy,” Cruz said in 2017.
In both of those previous attempts, Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, joined Cruz’s efforts to do away with the CFPB.
Now, Cruz is at it again, but this time, he has some support in the Senate.
Joining Cruz in introducing the bill are: Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.; Ben Sasse, R-Neb.; Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; and Rand Paul, R-Ky.
The bill itself, which can be read here, would repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, which would thereby eliminate the CFPB and any law changes that came from the bureau.
“There has never been a greater farce and waste of government resources than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and now is the time to eliminate it,” Cruz said in a statement.
“Make no mistake, it does little to protect consumers and was created during the Obama administration to enforce burdensome regulations which have stunted economic growth and negatively impacted small businesses and consumers,” Cruz continued. “I am proud to reintroduce this legislation alongside Senators Lee, Inhofe, Sasse, Rounds, and Blackburn, and urge our colleagues to take this up for a vote in the Senate as soon as possible.”
Each of Cruz’s co-signers agreed with Cruz’s sentiments and expounded in their own way.
“America has three branches of government – not four,” Sasse said. “Protecting consumers is good, but consolidating power in the hands of Washington elites is harmful. This powerful and unaccountable bureau is an affront to the principle that the folks who write laws must be accountable to the people.”
“Obama’s administration was all about expanding the size and scope of federal bureaucracy,” Inhofe said. “For almost eight years, the CFPB has held far too much power with virtually no Congressional oversight. I’ve seen how Oklahoma banks are being forced to spend more and more of their time and resources on complying with federal government mandates, and less on their customers—driving up costs for families, small businesses, farmers and ranchers. Eliminating the CFPB is the next step in cutting bureaucratic red-tape for hard-working Americans.”
“The CFPB is an unaccountable regulatory agency created under Dodd-Frank with broad authorities to impose burdensome new rules on the American people – with no oversight from Congress,” Rounds said. “While we’re pleased to see the current administration rein-in the CFPB’s unchecked powers and bring much-needed accountability to the agency, until it is completely dismantled, it remains a threat to hardworking families. Abolishing the CFPB is one step we can take to ease the regulatory burdens of Dodd-Frank; I’m pleased to work with Sen. Cruz on this important legislation.”
“The CFPB is the epitome of the overgrown federal bureaucracy,” Blackburn said. “We cannot continue to allow unelected, activist bureaucrats with no accountability to Congress to implement burdensome policies that do more to hurt consumers than to help them.”
Paul did not issue a statement on the bill.
To read the full text of the bill, click here.
