Waters Statement in Opposition to Senate Bill to Weaken Key Dodd-Frank Reforms

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, made the following statement in opposition to S.2155, a bill that would roll back important reforms put in place by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:

“This bill simply repackages harmful provisions from Chairman Hensarling’s Wrong Choice Act, and it must not become law. It guts critical consumer protections put in place following the financial crisis, including mortgage rules, appraisal and escrow rules, and data collection requirements that help to illuminate discriminatory lending practices. The legislation also weakens important safeguards in place to ensure the stability of our financial system, such as stress tests and living wills, and waters down bank capital requirements.

“This legislation is yet another brazen giveaway to Wall Street and big banks that would harm consumers. Let’s be clear: last year banks posted record profits, and they are lending to businesses at well above pre-crisis levels. They are doing just fine. Instead of bending over backwards to help out Wall Street, Congress should be working to ensure that abusive megabanks, like Wells Fargo, face real consequences for patterns of egregious illegal behavior, and moving to comprehensively reform our nation’s broken credit reporting system, especially in the wake of the massive Equifax data breach.”

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