Analysis: Wall Street’s Agenda is Gottheimer’s Agenda

New Jersey Democrat Abandons Consumers to Serve His Financial Benefactors 


WASHINGTON, D.C. – The day after launching an ad campaign exposing Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) for voting with Trump 55% of the time and working to undermine the new pro-accountability congressional majority, Allied Progress released analysis showing the New Jersey Democrat and co-chair of the so-called “Problem Solvers” Caucus is using his position of power to advance the interests of Wall Street and the financial industry like few others in his party.

Josh Gottheimer is Wall Street’s number one ally in the new Democratic majority. He is their eyes and ears on the inside, desperately trying to sabotage the work of real Democratic ‘problem solvers.’ As this analysis shows, his agenda is their agenda – that should worry anyone who cares about consumers or holding the Trump administration and its buddies on Wall Street accountable,” said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress.

Gottheimer was one of only seven Democrats to vote for a Trump-backed bill that would undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence and even pushed a bill in both the House Financial Services Committee and on the House floor to shield more banks from important consumer safeguards that are enforced by the CFPB.

His voting record on consumer protection issues is particularly abysmal and often he is only one of a handful of Democrats voting on bills that would dilute the CFPB’s power. Since coming to Congress in 2017, he has voted with President Trump and the Republicans in Congress more than his Democratic colleagues on deregulating the banks, weakening consumer protection enforcement, and making truth in lending disclosures less clear.

Last week, Allied Progress pointed out that Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, has voted more with President Donald Trump than he has with members of his own party in Congress. 

What You Need To Know:

Since Coming to Congress, Josh Gottheimer Has Repeatedly Voted To Gut Consumer Protections And Weaken The CFPB

  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 7 Democrats To Vote For A Trump-Backed Bill That Would Undermine The CFPB’s Independence And “Would Have A Crippling Effect On The Regulation Of Our Financial System” [House Vote 120, H.R. 1009, 03/01/17]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 33 Democrats To Vote For An Amendment To Put Extra Obstacles In The Way Of Consumer Protections [House Vote 117, H.R. 1009, 03/01/17]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 16 Democrats To Vote For A Bill To Let Predatory Payday Lenders Disregard State Lending Laws [House Vote 78, H.R. 3299, 02/14/18]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 27 Democrats To Vote For A Trump-Backed Bill To Gut CFPB Protections For Families Who Own Manufactured Homes [House Vote 651, H.R. 1699, 12/01/17]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 16 Democrats To Vote For A Bill To Force The CFPB To Put Banks’ Interests Above Consumers [House Vote 108, H.R. 1116,03/14/18]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 11 Democrats Who Voted For A Trump-Backed Bill To Create An “Unelected Commission” That Could Undo Or Block Important Consumer Protections [House Vote 114, H.R. 998,03/01/17]
  • Gottheimer Voted For A Bill To Strip The CFPB And Other Banking Regulators Of Their Authority To Protect Consumers [House Vote 112, H.R. 4545, 03/15/18]
  • Gottheimer Voted For A Bill To Make Truth In Lending Disclosures Less Clear And Less Subject To CFPB Oversight [House Vote 77, H.R. 3978, 02/14/18]
  • Gottheimer Voted For A Bill That Would Have Slashed The Number Of Banks Under CFPB Oversight By Two-Thirds [ Rept. 115-420, U.S. House of Representatives, 11/21/17]
  • Gottheimer Pushed A Bill That Would Allow More Investments To Evade State And Federal Scrutiny [ Rept. 115-525, U.S. House of Representatives, 01/25/18]

Josh Gottheimer Has Voted With President Trump To De-Regulate Wall Street and Big Banks.

  • In 2018, Gottheimer Supported Sen. Mike Crapo’s Banking “Reform” Bill That Raised The Threshold For A Bank To Be Considered Systematically Important And Weakened Anti-Discrimination Standards In Housing. [Roll Call 216, US House of Representatives, 114thCongress, 05/22/18]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 9 Democrats To Vote For A Bill That Would “Paralyze The SEC” And “Empower Wall Street Lawyers To Overturn Its Decisions” [House Vote 51, H.R. 78, 01/12/17]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 13 Democrats To Vote For A Bill To Roll Back Dodd-Frank’s Stress Tests And Benefit The Country’s Biggest Banks [House Vote 137, H.R. 4293, 04/11/18]

Josh Gottheimer Has Spent His Time In Congress Working To Eviscerate Post-Financial Crisis Reforms.

  • Gottheimer Voted For An Anti-Dodd-Frank Bill That Would Expose Consumers And The Economy At Large To More Risky Subprime Mortgages [House Vote 64, H.R. 1153, 02/08/18]
  • Gottheimer Voted For A Bill To Soften Oversight Of Ratings Agencies, Whose Carelessness Was A “Root Cause” Of The Financial Crisis [House Vote 615, H.R. 3911, 11/07/17]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 7 Democrats To Vote For A Bill To Roll Back Regulation On Swaps Markets, Which Maxine Waters Said “Fueled The [Financial] Crisis, Bankrupted Millions Of Homeowners, And Cost Taxpayers Trillions Of Dollars” [House Vote 54, H.R. 238, 01/12/17]
  • Gottheimer Was 1 Of Only 19 Democrats To Vote For A Bill To “Boost Big Bank Profits” By Letting Them Keep Less Cash Reserved To Pay For Their Own Illegal Or Risky Behavior­­ [House Vote 89, H.R. 4296, 02/27/18]

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