Congress Hands Wall St. a giant "Get Out of Jail Free" card, lets banks declare open season on consumers -- Why Twain called Congress "America's only native criminal class."

As the saying goes, "No matter how cynical you get, you just can't keep up"

 Paul Bland of Public Justice writes:

Late last night, 50 Senators joined Vice President Mike Pence to kill one of the most important advances in consumer rights in years.
 
By casting the tie-breaking vote to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's arbitration rule - which allowed consumers to band together to sue banks, financial institutions and credit card companies - Pence showed just how much power Wall Street has amassed on Capitol Hill and on Pennsylvania Avenue. It also unmasked the alarmingly cozy relationship between GOP leaders and the bank executives who defrauded millions of consumers and exposed their most important information to Equifax hackers.

As I told one reporter this morning, "This was the Wells Fargo Immunity Act."
(click text just above for full story)

Senate Grants Immunity to Financial Industry Rip-Offs, Scams and Abuses

Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

Oct. 24, 2017

Contact: Angela Bradbery, abradbery@citizen.org, c. (202) 503-6768
Don Owens, dowens@citizen.org, c. (202) 617-5371
David Rosen, drosen@citizen.org, (202) 588-7742

Note: The U.S. Senate tonight voted to overturn to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s arbitration rule.

Voting to allow banks and other financial institutions to rip off customers with impunity is a savage attack on American consumers. By voting to overturn the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) arbitration rule, Republicans in Congress are ensuring that predatory banks, payday lenders, credit card companies and other bad actors in the financial industry can steal from Main Street Americans.

As Public Citizen repeatedly has documented, the financial industry spends hundreds of millions every year on lobbying and campaign contributions to get their way in Congress. The Congressional Review Act resolution overturning the arbitration rule is a shameless payback to these interests at the expense of regular Americans.

If President Donald Trump wants to remain true to his promise to defeat cronyism, he should veto this resolution. But we’re not holding our breath, given that he has staffed his Cabinet and White House with Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street refugees.