Earlier today, Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke about the upcoming vote on the abysmal GOP budget proposal.
“A budget resolution is a statement of values,” Sen. Warren said, “and the Republicans have put their values on display with this resolution.”
“It was just a few years ago, 2008, that there was a major financial crisis in this country. People lost their jobs; people lost their homes; people lost their savings,” continued Warren. “And yet, the Republicans seem to have forgotten all that.”
The GOP’s budget guts financial regulations that were put in place after the financial meltdown — the worst since the Great Depression.
“A big part of that is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB],” said Warren. “After the crisis, people like Sen. [Al] Franken (D-MN) and Sen. [Jeff] Merkley (D-OR) were talking about the importance of getting a single agency that would be there to help level the playing field.”
“The idea was that we would develop a single agency and make that agency responsible for standing up for American families against the biggest banks in this country — make that agency responsible and accountable to the American people. And that’s exactly what we did.”
So far, the CFPB has forced big banks to return more than $5 billion directly to those customers they cheated, and “has scared off a lot of others from doing more cheating,” said Warren.
“Given that that’s the case, given that we’ve just been through this financial crisis … what is the position of the Republicans?” Warren asked. “Do they want to strengthen the [CFPB], the agency that’s out there on behalf of America’s families? No. Their view is ‘let’s find ways to weaken it’ … In other words, they want to make sure the watchdogs are tame.”
“We need tough regulations. We need regulators that are willing to stand up to the biggest financial institutions in this country,” Warren concluded. “And I want to say, with this budget resolution, we’re watching. We’re watching. Democrats in the Senate are watching, Democrats in the House are watching, and the American people are watching. We will not stand by while the Republicans gut financial regulation in this country.”
