WTF?! Leaked Mulvaney Memo Refocuses CFPB Mission to Aggressively Defend Industry
CFPB “Acting Director” Sends Email to Staff Attacking Predecessor’s Focus on Consumer Protection, Shifts Bureau’s Mission to Protecting Industry
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) “Acting Director” Mick Mulvaney sent an email to staff castigating his predecessor’s focus on aggressive consumer protection and detailing how the Bureau will now concentrate its effort on protecting industry.
From the email obtained by ProPublica:
“I think it is fair to say that the previous governing philosophy here was to aggressively ‘push the envelope’ in pursuit of the ‘mission;’ that we were the ‘good guys’ and the ‘new sheriff in town,’ out to fight the ‘bad guys.’ Simply put: that is what is going to be different.”
[…]
“We are government employees. We don’t just work for the government, we work for the people. And that means everyone: those who use credit cards, and those who provide those cards; those who take loans, and those who make them; those who buy cars, and those who sell them. All of those people are part of what makes this country great.”
In response Allied Progress released the following statement:
“Apparently Mick Mulvaney is only interested in pushing the envelope when those envelopes are filled with campaign contributions from the very industries he now oversees at the CFPB. There’s a reason not a single announcement from the CFPB on his watch has been about protecting consumers. He has no interest in protecting them — he is ideologically opposed to putting limits on the excesses of Wall Street and the greed of financial predators,” said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress.
He continued, “It is as if Mulvaney thinks the big banks, predatory lenders and other financial interests that the CFPB oversees – the same ones that have given him more than $1.28 million over the years – are the ones who need help and not the consumers identified in the agency’s own name. Mulvaney’s message is clear: he will be the industry’s champion and consumers can expect little more than lip service. As long as Mulvaney sits in the director’s chair he will let the worst of Wall Street have their way with the American people.”
Earlier today it was revealed that the CFPB has ended an investigation into a predatory payday lender that contributed thousands of dollars to Mulvaney over the years.
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