Senate Banking Committee ranking Republican Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. said on December 11 that unlike several other regulators, the CFPB is ignoring his call to pause rulemaking until the Trump Administration takes office.
“It is paramount that President Trump can begin his administration on January 20th with a fresh slate to implement the economic agenda that the American people resoundingly voted for,” Scott, who will become Chairman of the committee in the next Congress, said at a hearing that featured CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.
Scott said he had sent a letter to financial regulators asking them to pause any agency actions.
“To ensure an orderly transition, federal financial and housing regulators should suspend any rulemaking and nomination related activities,” Scott wrote, in his letter to the financial regulators. “As the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, I call on the agencies overseen by the Committee to cease all rulemaking, including the finalization of any pending or proposed regulations or guidance, and to comply with federal record retention laws and preserve all agency documents, records, and communications.”
Scott said that the OCC, FDIC, NCUA and Federal Reserve have agreed to pause their activities.
He said that that Chopra has ignored these calls, and instead, “pushed a partisan agenda.”
At the same time, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. said that he, and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, sent a letter to Chopra urging him to finalize the agency’s rule restricting the listing of medical debt on credit reports.
Chopra defended the CFPB’s current rulemaking. “We will continue to defend consumers’ rights and to hold companies accountable,” he said. He added, “I don’t think it makes sense for the CFPB to be a dead fish,” he said.
When asked, Chopra declined to say whether he would resign when President-Elect Donald Trump takes office. He said that Trump has the power to remove him.
In his opening statement, Chopra noted that the Trump Administration has expressed support for an interest rate cap on credit cards.
He also highlighted recent agency actions.
“The CFPB is taking action to crack down on credit card companies exploiting loopholes, to make it easier to switch to a new company, to ensure consumers can obtain and redeem promised rewards, and more,” Chopra said.
The CFPB recently proposed a rule under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). While the CFPB touts the proposal as one focusing on data brokers, with Chopra stating the proposal would curb access to sensitive financial data by foreign adversaries and others seeking to exploit Americans by spying on their personal information, as we have reported, the proposal is much broader and would have wide-sweeping implications.
The bureau also issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in advance of a rule intended to mitigate the financial consequences of domestic violence and abuse. In addition, the agency issued a final rule making clear its jurisdiction over popular digital payment apps.
The bureau also has recently initiated several enforcement actions.
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