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AAJ Response to House Financial Services Committee Approving Bill That Puts Consumers at Risk

May 04,2017

Washington, DC—The following is a statement from American Association for Justice (AAJ) CEO Linda Lipsen in response to the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee today approving “The Financial CHOICE Act” (H.R. 10), which would gut consumer protections enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis:

“Today, the House Financial Services Committee voted to bolster Wall Street at the expense of our constitutional rights, enabling a return to the same misbehavior that, less than a decade ago, cost millions of Americans their homes, their credit, and their life savings. Simply put, this disastrous bill is the wrong choice for American consumers.”

“By gutting the CFPB, the Financial CHOICE Act opens the door to rampant consumer abuses and puts Americans’ rights at risk by extinguishing the Bureau’s widely-supported proposal to restrict forced arbitration in financial agreements. If this bill becomes law, corporations will continue to evade public accountability for wrongdoing by forcing cheated consumers into a rigged, secretive arbitration system where, according to the CFPB, Wall Street wins 93 percent of the time.”

“Congress should be working to protect their constituents, not pushing through one-sided legislation that sets our country up for another economic crisis.”

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Sammi Swing