In opening remarks during a Financial Services Committee markup today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the Committee’s Ranking Member, expressed concern with legislation that would violate or undermine the U.S.’s commitments under the Iran nuclear deal. “We are considering two pieces of legislation today that would have serious consequences for our ability to uphold the Iran nuclear deal and a third bill which reflects the latest in a long string of baseless and politically motivated attacks... Read more

In opening remarks at a House Financial Services Committee hearing today with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) criticized Republicans for “hijacking a very important topic in order to launch attacks on the Secretary, and the Department, rather than substantively examine the issues impacting working people in this country.” Waters highlighted the need for changes to the HUD’s Distressed Asset Stabilization Program so that it can better ... Read more

Today, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on the Republican plan to gut the Dodd-Frank Act. Committee Democrats and the Democratic witness, Georgetown University Law Professor Adam Levitin, explained how this plan would benefit special interests and expose us to another financial crisis. “The Choice Act is a bad choice, is a recipe for financial disaster. It prioritizes ideologically driven positions over careful and serious policy analysis and reasoning, and the fate of the U... Read more

In opening remarks during a Financial Services Committee hearing today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the Committee’s Ranking Member, denounced Republicans’ deregulatory agenda that puts the needs of special interests above working Americans. Waters noted that Chairman Hensarling’s legislation, the “Wrong Choice Act,” to gut Dodd-Frank would make “radical changes to our financial regulatory framework that would harm consumers and the greater economy.” This would include giving banks a “hal... Read more

Tomorrow, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on Chairman Hensarling’s plan to gut Wall Street Reform. Here’s why repealing Dodd-Frank is the Wrong Choice for consumers, investors, and the entire financial system: For more information on the legislation: Summary of the “Wrong Choice Act” Opposition to the “Wrong Choice Act” Waters: We Must Build on Wall Street Reform, Not Dismantle It ### Read more

It’s been eight years since the financial crisis devastated our economy and six years since Democrats passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act to get us back on the road to recovery. As Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, I’m proud that our efforts have led to financial system that is safer, fairer, and stronger. Under the Obama Administration, we’ve had 76 straight months of job growth, the deficit has been cut by two-thirds, and American households have recovered more... Read more

Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), and 21 of their colleagues sent a bipartisan letter asking that FEMA fulfill its legal obligation to provide oversight of the private insurance companies that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In the wake of Superstorm Sandy and other recent disasters, FEMA and NFIP have faced accusations of incompetence and fraud. A recent PBS Frontline documentary entitled, “The Business of Disaster” e... Read more

Last night, the House of Representatives passed a harmful Republican spending bill, H.R. 5485, which would underfund the nation’s financial services regulators for fiscal year 2017 and put consumer protection and financial stability at risk. Despite Democratic efforts to improve the bill through the amendment process, Republicans pushed through this legislation, which would make it harder for financial regulators to protect consumers, investors, and the entire financial system. The bill “so grav... Read more

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) – the leading Democrats on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees – issued the following statement after the U.S government removed GE Capital’s designation as “systemically important” to the financial system. The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), which includes the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve, rescinded GE Capital’s designation for stricter oversight after the firm made changes to reduce its thr... Read more

As a massive overhaul of the World Bank’s long-standing social and environmental safeguard policies moves to its final stage, two leading House members on international development issues expressed concern over the Bank’s proposed safeguards on worker rights. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, and Gwen Moore (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade, said they were con... Read more

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement on legislation Chairman Hensarling unveiled yesterday to repeal critical parts of the Dodd-Frank Act, which would make financial markets less safe and put consumers at risk: “Chairman Hensarling’s plan to kill Wall Street Reform puts special interests ahead of American consumers,” Rep. Waters said. “The Wrong Choice Act would allow megabanks and other financial instituti... Read more

Yesterday, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, spoke at a press conference about the harms caused by predatory payday loans and the need for strong rules to protect victims from abusive practices. Waters spoke alongside advocates from consumer, civil rights and faith-based groups to urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to finalize strong rules to rein in payday lenders, following a proposal the Bureau released earlier this month.... Read more

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen Wednesday pushed back on key elements of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling's proposed overhaul of banking regulations. In response to a question from a lawmaker at a committee hearing, Yellen was critical of doing away with the 2010 Dodd-Frank law's "orderly liquidation authority," the option that regulators have to manage the failure of a bank outside of bankruptcy. She also rejected an over-reliance on setting bank capital requirement... Read more

In opening remarks during today’s semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins hearing with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, lauded the Federal Reserve Chair’s cautious approach to raising rates and her work to increase economic inclusion. Waters touted the actions taken by the Fed, the Administration and Democrats in Congress, which have led to “the longest-ever streak of private-sector job growth, rising home pric... Read more

State-level regulation of the payday lending industry is insufficient in protecting consumers, a House Financial Services Committee Democratic staff report revealed, underscoring the need for strong federal consumer protections. Because of the history of abuse in payday lending, many states have attempted to restrict these kinds of loans in order to protect consumers. However, the report released today, “Skirting the Law: Five Tactics Payday Lenders Use to Evade State Consumer Protection Laws,” ... Read more

In opening remarks during a Financial Services Committee markup today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the Committee’s Ranking Member, pushed back against Republican efforts to dismantle Wall Street reforms, including much-needed investor and consumer protections. Waters noted that while she supports some of the measures under consideration, she is dismayed by broader Republican attempts to undercut Dodd-Frank and the protections put in place to prevent another financial crisis. “This markup... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement on House Republicans’ so-called regulatory reform agenda: “House Republicans are once again making it clear that they do not care. Last week, they showed America that they don’t care about people living in poverty by releasing a fake poverty agenda that would punish and blame the poor instead of investing in critical resources like housing. This week, they are focus... Read more

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, today delivered a major speech at an AFL-CIO conference on monetary policy in the United States. In her remarks, Ranking Member Waters said the Federal Reserve should pay due consideration to the needs of workers when setting interest rate policy and expressed concerns about the impact of any premature rate increases on workers as well as low-income and minority communities. “The Fed’s decisions have serio... Read more

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, spoke on the House floor today about the state of homelessness in the United States and how the Republican poverty plan does nothing to address this crisis. In her remarks, Ranking Member Waters noted that the recently introduced Republican poverty agenda, “would only exacerbate homelessness and punish the poor.” To that end, Waters urged support for her bill H.R. 4888, the Ending Homelessness Act of 2016 ... Read more

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement on legislation that would fund financial services agencies for fiscal 2017, which the House Appropriations Committee approved today: “Republicans, once again, are using every tool at their disposal to push an agenda that would hurt consumers and threaten the stability of our financial system. The spending bill approved by the Appropriations Committee today would underfund ... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement after President Obama vetoed legislation that would overturn the Labor Department’s fiduciary duty rule: “I am pleased that President Obama has vetoed harmful legislation that would overturn the Labor Department’s efforts to protect seniors from conflicted financial advice that costs them $17 billion a year in retirement savings. The Labor Department’s rule to prote... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement on House Republicans’ harmful plan that would exacerbate poverty in this country: “Today, Republicans have unveiled a fake poverty program that shows, yet again, they are out of touch with the realities of poverty in America. This is nothing more than a weak attempt by Republicans to make it look as if they really care about the problems they have long ignored. But ... Read more

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, denounced Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s proposal to weaken our country’s financial and consumer protections: “Today, just steps from Wall Street, Chairman Hensarling unveiled a special interest wish list that would deregulate the financial sector to the detriment of consumers and investors. In the six years since Democrats saved our economy from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Republi... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s efforts to protect consumers from abusive lending practices: “The CFPB has taken an important step today to rein in payday lenders that prey on financially vulnerable Americans. These loans often come with outrageous terms, such as interest rates that can top 1,000 percent, and trap millions of Americans a year in a cycl... Read more

WASHINGTON -- Today, Reps. Maxine Waters, Elijah E. Cummings, and Bobby Scott, Ranking Members of the House Committees on Financial Services, Oversight and Government Reform, and Education and Workforce, issued the following statement on news that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and other industry groups have filed a lawsuit to overturn the Department of Labor’s conflict of interest rule: “Quite simply, the Department of Labor's new rule helps... Read more