Roll Call, March 13, 2018: Opinion: The attack on the CFPB threatens consumers and ignites a race to the bottom
As a congressman, Mick Mulvaney once co-sponsored a bill to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And since being appointed by President Donald Trump to temporarily lead the agency, he has worked to cripple it from the inside.
What he is doing will hurt consumers not once but twice — first, by letting off the hook financial institutions that take advantage of their customers, and second, by giving other companies large incentives to do the same.
The rollbacks won’t just hurt consumers, they will also hurt our economy. Fair regulations that protect consumers are essential for well-functioning markets. Without effective rules, we’ve seen that some companies will cheat their customers. As word spreads, millions of consumers are forced to question whether products are safe or secure. This uncertainty leads them to buy less. Many businesses — even those that treat their customers fairly — lose sales. The economy suffers.
