The vote by the Senate Tuesday to reject the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new rule that would have allowed consumers to band together in class action lawsuits serves Wall Street and the big corporations well.
“It leaves consumers, including veterans and servicemembers, unable to self-police an epidemic of financial crime,” said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG.
Vice President Pence cast the tiebreaking vote on a 50-50 deadlock, so President Trump is expected to approve the resolution, even though it harms average Americans.
“Reckless Wall Street chiefs and predatory payday lenders have now won a Congressional green light to pick consumer pockets with unfair and deceptive fees and practices,” said Mierzwinski. “It is now U.S. policy to keep victims of financial wrongdoing from the courthouse doors.”
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said the vote shows that big business wins again:
Last night, Senate Republicans and the Trump administration once again showed their true colors, putting the interests of big corporations over working families in New York and across the country. From Wells Fargo to Equifax, the dangers of big business trying to deny consumers their day in court through forced arbitration are clear. And the fact that Donald Trump's own Vice President was the tie-breaking vote makes clear whose side the President is on.
Mierzwinski said consumers and consumer groups now must redouble their efforts to defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau itself as corporate wrongdoers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce relentlessly seek to dismantle it.
