Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following testimony in front of the Rules Committee on two Congressional Review Act resolutions: S.J.Res.18, which would increase fees charged by big banks, and S.J.Res.28, which would strip the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) of its authority to oversee payment apps run by big tech companies.

Thank you, Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member McGovern, and Members of the Committee.

I wish I was here to testify under different circumstances, where we might be discussing bipartisan legislation to lower prices for consumers or strengthen consumer protections, or even fulfilling our duties under the Constitution to conduct meaningful oversight of the Trump-Musk Regime. But no, House Republicans have turned a blind eye while the Regime usurps Congress’s power and unlawfully tries to delete the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I’d like to remind the panel that the CFPB is the only Federal watchdog consumers have solely focused on protecting them from predatory lenders and big tech encroachment in the financial marketplace. Today, House Republicans add insult to injury by proposing to advance two harmful and anti-consumer pieces of legislation.

The first bill is S.J.Res.18, a partisan Congressional Review Act resolution that will increase bank fees. You heard me right, I said increase bank fees, and it will impact 23 million households, or roughly one in five households, that incur overdraft fees each year. Many of these fees are $35 or $40, even if you briefly overdraw your account by a few dollars.

Let’s clear up a few myths. CFPB’s rule does not ban overdraft fees, but rather it sets a reasonable limit at $5 per overdraft charged by the biggest banks. Despite what opponents may claim, the rule does not impose a hard cap on these fees, as it provides flexibility for large banks to charge more if their estimated costs and losses in providing the service are higher than $5. The rule even allows big banks to charge even higher fees if they provide a simple, up-front cost disclosure to consumers. That’s right, the biggest banks can charge higher fees, but they just have to tell consumers that they plan to do so.

Furthermore, this rule does not apply to any small community banks or credit unions. In fact, 97% of all banks and virtually all credit unions are completely exempt from the rule.

Now, Republicans will try reverse psychology and claim rescinding the overdraft rule will somehow result in better banking service and lower fees for consumers. If that were true, then why do nearly 300 consumer, civil rights, labor, religious, and community groups across the country strongly oppose this bill?

Last Friday, we got a new report that a key Federal Reserve metric of inflation is going up, which sent the stock market further into the tank. Whether you like the CFPB or not, it doesn’t make any sense to hike bank fees on 23 million hard-working families. Why do you want to force them to pay $5 billion in more fees every year?

The second bill is S.J.Res.28, another partisan Congressional Review Act resolution that will prevent the CFPB from supervising payment apps offered by big tech firms, including Apple, Google, and Elon Musk’s X app that will soon get into the payments business.

Normally, the CFPB examines the largest banks, along with the payment apps and services these banks provide consumers. CFPB checks to make sure they are complying with applicable consumer protection laws. CFPB’s payment apps supervision rule simply levels the playing field for banks.

That is because Big Tech and other nonbank firms have increasingly offered mobile wallets and payment apps for consumers to use. The same consumer protection laws apply to them, and Congress gave CFPB the authority to examine the largest participants to ensure they are complying with those laws. So, let’s be clear, CFPB’s rule that S.J.Res.28 would repeal imposes no new consumer protection standards on these large payment apps. It simply allows CFPB to check if they are following current law.

This is important because I have received more and more complaints from constituents who have been tricked, scammed, and defrauded out of their hard-earned money on these payment apps. Candidly, we should be working together to tackle this rise in payment fraud.

Unlike the overdraft bill I first discussed, S.J. Res. 28 was never considered by the Committee. We have a markup on Wednesday and could easily have considered it there. Why are Republicans in such a rush to pass this? I know that Trump recently turned the White House lawn into a Tesla sales lot after Tesla’s stock tanked. Maybe the President is ordering this bill be passed now, so Elon can launch his payment app without any supervision and recoup the money he’s lost after Americans have resoundingly rejected Musk’s reckless DOGE work, including unlawfully firing CFPB employees.

Madame Chair, our constituents are deeply concerned about losing their Social Security and Medicaid checks because of the reckless government cuts. They are concerned about how Elon Musk is using his government role to further enrich himself. At the same time families and businesses are struggling as Trump’s chaotic and dumb tariff wars raise costs across the board. It makes no sense to pass legislation that increases bank fees and eliminates oversight of big tech apps while millions of people are being defrauded, scammed, and ripped off. In fact, the only thing bipartisan about both bills is the opposition they both received in the Senate.

It is not too late to turn back. I urge Members of this Committee to show some courage, stand up for consumers, and reject these harmful pieces of legislation.

Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

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