Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative John D. Dingell (D-MI15) issued the following floor statement for the record regarding his vote against H.R. 1315, the “Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2011”.   H.R. 1315 passed the House by a vote of: 240 to 173.

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in unreserved opposition to H.R. 1315, the Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act.  H.R. 1315’s short title is ironic, given the bill’s thinly veiled purpose of eviscerating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and continuing to allow unchecked consumer abuses by the financial institutions responsible for the crash of 2008.  This is cynical legislating, Mr. Speaker, and ugly proof positive that my friends on the other side of the aisle care more about Wall Street banks than Main Street families.

“H.R. 1315’s provisions show that Republicans clearly have not learned the lessons of our ongoing Great Recession.  Today’s bill weakens the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability to devise protections to protect the American public.   Not only does H.R. 1315 allow for consumer financial protection rules to be overturned more easily, but it also strips the time limit within which the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) must review and vote on petitions against them.  H.R. 1315’s perilous net effect is the crippling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its ability to protect Americans from all manner of deceitful Wall Street rascality.

“As if reducing consumer protections were not enough, my Republican friends also feel the need to use H.R. 1315 as a vehicle to play wild games with the legislative process.  The rule to bring H.R. 1315 to the floor mandates that when passed, H.R. 1315 will include H.R. 830, an unrelated bill to terminate the Federal Housing Administration’s refinance program.  I opposed H.R. 830 when it was originally considered on the House floor because I believe it hastily terminates a promising program tailored to benefit responsible homeowners.  Wrapping H.R. 830 into the text of H.R. 1315 is Republican leadership’s irresponsible ploy to appear fiscally austere at any cost, all while violating their own vaunted “three-calendar-day” and “72-hour” rules.  Republican leadership might as well come on to the floor and announce, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

“Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1315 and the ongoing debt limit debate have shown that the House Republicans are more concerned about the needs of their fat cat friends on Wall Street than American families that are living paycheck to paycheck.  It is for all of these reasons and more that I strongly oppose H.R. 1315.  I urge my colleagues to do the same so they can sleep at night with the peace of knowing they voted their conscience to protect the very people they were elected to represent, not the banks that crippled our country’s economy.  I yield back the balance of my time.”

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