Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement regarding a letter that Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks sent to the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the National Association of Governors regarding efforts to combat COVID-19.

“With this inappropriate letter pressuring city and state officials to end important public safety measures put in place to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, the new Acting Comptroller is transparently pandering to President Trump, who has made clear that he would prefer that we all pretend that there is no pandemic, that more than a hundred thousand Americans have not lost their lives already, and that many more are not at risk.

“Mr. Brooks is only the Acting Comptroller. He has not been nominated to be the Comptroller or confirmed with the advice and consent of the Senate. As such, he should focus on temporary stewardship of the agency, not issuing new rules, as he did on the first day on the job with a harmful rule on transferred loans which allows rent-a-bank schemes to evade state usury laws, or distributing inflammatory and ill-advised missives to state and local officials on the front lines of the pandemic, as he has done with this letter. The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing national emergency, and cities and states across the nation are fighting against it, with the guidance of public health experts. Mr. Brooks has no such credentials, and he too needs to listen to public health experts.”

Earlier this month, Chairwoman Waters issued a statement regarding the Office of the Comptroller’s issuance of a harmful final rule on interest rates on transferred loans on Acting Comptroller Brook’s first day on the job.

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