The House of Representatives approved on Thursday by bipartisan vote legislation introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) to reform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Duffy’s Financial Freedom and Washington Accountability Act would eliminate CFPB’s current exemption from the budget process and subject it to the regular authorization and appropriations process.
“This is a bill about accountability and transparency,” Duffy said.
The bill would replace the CFPB director with a commission and new standards would restrict CFPB’s ability to collect consumer information.
“CFPB Director Richard Cordray claims that in order for the agency to do their job, they must monitor 80 percent of all credit cards in circulation, or nearly one billion credit cards,” Duffy said. “One provision in this bill would require the CFPB to first ask the American people’s permission before accessing their personal information. If you are here to protect the consumer, why don’t you ask the consumer for permission and consent to take their information?”
The measure would require that CFPB employee are paid on the same wage scale as employees in other federal agencies and force the CFPB to consider the impact any new rules would have on insured depository institutions.