Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement on the amicus brief filed this week by the U.S. House of Representatives in support of the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s independent single-director structure.

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act following the 2008 financial crisis to ensure that consumers have a strong watchdog to protect them from harmful financial products and practices. The Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans continue to do all they can to eliminate this critical consumer protection agency, including by making desperate and baseless legal claims about the Consumer Bureau that other judges have rejected. With this amicus brief, the House of Representatives is setting the record straight that, as several appeals courts have found, the Consumer Bureau’s independent structure is clearly constitutional.

“I applaud Speaker Pelosi for her commitment to ensuring that the Consumer Bureau can serve as a strong independent regulator to protect hardworking American consumers.”

In October of 2019, Chairwoman Waters and Speaker Pelosi announced a House motion in the Seila Law v. CFPB case to file an amicus brief following the announcement by CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger that the agency would no longer defend the constitutionality of the CFPB Director’s for-cause removal provision.

In May of 2019, the House passed the Consumers First Act (H.R. 1500), legislation introduced by Chairwoman Waters to block the Trump Administration’s anti-consumer agenda and reverse their past efforts to undermine the mission of the Consumer Bureau.

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