How Members of the 116th Congress Voted on Taming Wall Street and Protecting Consumers Votes cast in the 116th Congress (January 2019 to January 2021) (Public domain image, via Wikimedia Commons) February 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ii INTRODUCTION 1 BILL SUMMARIES 4 Consumer Protections and the CFPB 4 Housing 11 Other 14 VOTING SUMMARIES 15 House of Representatives 15 House Financial Services Committee Representatives 15 U.S. Senate 16 ONLINE APPENDICES House Floor Votes House Financial Services Committee Votes Senate Votes ii How Members of the 116th Congress Voted on Taming Wall Street and Protecting Consumers February 2021 INTRODUCTION This report documents how Members of specific provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act— Congress voted on consumer protections, the major regulatory response to the 2008 Wall Street, and financial industry financial crisis that created the regulatory legislative measures during the 116th framework underpinning the longest period Congress (January 2019 to January 2021). in U.S. history without a recession. The report includes a selection of important In addition to signing all Wall Street bills and amendments aimed at shaping the deregulatory legislation passed by the 115th U.S. financial system and regulatory Congress, the Trump administration filled landscape and establishing priorities on how regulatory positions with bankers, industry and for whom the U.S. economy should lobbyists, and politically-connected allies. work. These officials gutted major financial The votes on these bills show when regulations, including longstanding anti- lawmakers voted to protect workers, discrimination laws and a major rule to curb consumers, student borrowers, retirees, high-interest, predatory payday loans. investors, small businesses, and the integrity President Trump suggested at the time that of the financial system and when they chose bankers should thank him for his laissez to prioritize the profits and wealth of Wall faire approach to financial deregulation and Street insiders and the financial industry. for slashing corporate taxes—big banks were some of the largest beneficiaries of the During the 116th Congress beginning in tax cuts receiving a $32 billion windfall. January 2019, the House majority advanced measures to strengthen existing consumer The Democratic House majority of the 116th protections and to put in place enforcement Congress took a different approach to tools to hold bad actors in the financial financial regulation. The more than 80 bills industry accountable for abusive and passed by the HFSC included measures fraudulent practices. Most of those measures aiming to restore the regulatory muscle of began in the House Financial Services the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Committee (HFSC). (CFPB); improve the credit reporting system; tackle the homelessness crisis; For context, during the preceding Congress promote diversity and inclusion in the (the 115th), the then-Republican-led House financial industry; and to protect the rights of Representatives advanced over forty of student borrowers, small business, and major bills deregulating the financial system retail investors. The HFSC also advanced (as detailed in the previous version of this legislation to block dangerous rules report). This deregulatory push was aimed at proposed by Trump appointees to advance carving loopholes that could be abused to escape regulation as well as at revoking 1 How Members of the 116th Congress Voted on Taming Wall Street and Protecting Consumers February 2021 the administration’s racist, xenophobic, and passage of legislation during the 116th transphobic agenda. Congress. Those included one where Wells Fargo executives were called to testify to Over 60 bills reported by the HFSC also explain the bank’s myriad of management passed the House of Representatives. deficiencies and consumer abuses such as Notable examples included the opening millions of fraudulent accounts and Comprehensive CREDIT Act, a legislative improperly charging customers for auto package sponsored by Rep. Ayanna Pressley insurance and mortgage fees, and another (D-MA)—including provisions by several one examining the predatory practices and other members—to overhaul the credit parasitic business model of the private reporting system in order to protect equity industry. consumers’ data and to give them additional options to manage their credit scores and The private equity hearing was focused on dispute incorrect information in their credit the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, a bill to reports; and the Consumers First Act, curb abuses from the private equity industry introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced in the House by Representatives to refocus the CFPB on its mission of Mark Pocan (D-WI), Pramila Jayapal (D- protecting consumers from deceptive and WA), Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-IL), Raúl abusive financial practices by corporations. M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D- The Republican-led U.S. Senate of the 116th MA), Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL), and Congress, on the other hand, considered Rashida Tlaib (D-MI); and introduced in the almost no financial services legislation. Senate by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D- Other than a House joint resolution to MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bernie overturn a rule by the Office of the Sanders (I-VT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Comptroller of the Currency to weaken the and Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY). Community Reinvestment Act, none of over 60 bills that started in the HFSC and passed The Stop Wall Street Looting Act was also the House—50 of which passed with broad one of several legislative measures bipartisan support—received a single challenging inequitable features of the hearing or floor vote in the Senate. The 116th financial system that were the subject of a Congress Senate Majority Leader, Mitch hearing, but were not marked up. Another McConnell (R-KY), also ignored important was the Veterans and Consumers Fair Credit financial services-related legislation Act, a bill that would establish a 36 percent advanced by other House committees, such interest rate cap to end abuses in payday and as the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal car title lending and introduced in the House (FAIR) Act, which bans forced arbitration by Representatives Chuy García, Glenn clauses in consumer, civil rights, and Grothman (R-WI), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), employment disputes. and Al Green (D-TX). The HFSC also held important hearings on a The HFSC also played an important role in number of issues that did not result in the the legislative response to the COVID-19 2 How Members of the 116th Congress Voted on Taming Wall Street and Protecting Consumers February 2021 crisis. Committee Members drafted key The recorded roll call votes are tabulated in consumer protection, housing, and the online appendices to the report. These accountability provisions, many of which tables offer a simple way of viewing the were included in the Coronavirus Aid, position taken by each House Member on Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) the bills included in this report. There are Act, the major legislative package approved separate tables for HSFC votes and for votes by Congress to respond to the coronavirus on the House floor. pandemic and provide essential relief and The last section offers summaries of the protections for families across the country. online appendices, highlighting those House The CARES Act became public law in Members who consistently stood up for the March 2020. public interest and consumer protections and ────── those who most often sided with Wall Street and the financial industry. This voting The remainder of this report is divided into analysis includes only one Senate vote two sections. The first offers a summary of because no other financial reform legislation each of the selected bills grouped in three was brought to the Senate Banking broad categories—Consumer Protections Committee or to the floor of the Senate by and the CFPB; Housing; and Other. The then-Chair Crapo (R-ID) or Majority Leader summaries include a short description of the McConnell, respectively. bills, the latest congressional action taken in each case, and links to the official record of Together, the summaries in this report and votes cast, the official text of the proposals, the votes compiled in the online appendices and an AFR letter discussing its support or tell the story of where Members of the 116th opposition to the bill. Congress stand on issues of financial regulation. 3 How Members of the 116th Congress Voted on Taming Wall Street and Protecting Consumers February 2021 BILL SUMMARIES Consumer Protections and the CFPB Consumers First Act. H.R. 1500. Small Business Lending Fairness Act. Committee vote no. 25. House floor vote H.R. 3490. Committee vote no. 98. no. 228. H.R. 3490 protects small businesses against H.R. 1500 refocuses the Consumer Financial “confession of judgement” provisions in Protection Bureau on its mission to protect loan contracts. The bill prohibits this unfair consumers and restores the structures the credit practice frequently used by predatory Bureau needs to fight discrimination in lenders to force borrowers to give up their lending, address the student debt crisis and right to defend themselves in court before hold companies accountable for offering the lender can unilaterally seize assets. predatory financial products or engaging in AFR supported this bill. other deceptive acts and practices. The CFPB mission has been gravely undermined Introduced by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY- under Trump Administration appointees 7), H.R. 3490 was approved by the House Mick Mulvaney and Kathy Kraninger. This Financial Services Committee on November bill reallocates the CFPB’s staffing and 13, 2019 by a vote of 31–23. resources back to carrying out its statutory ────── purpose of putting consumers first and protecting them from abusive financial Restricting Credit Checks for practices. Employment Decisions Act. H.R. 3614. Committee vote no. 42. AFR supported this bill. H.R. 3614 prohibits the use of consumers’ Introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA- credit information for employment 43), H.R.