Republicans Compare Consumer Protection To Stalinism

A top Senate Republican on Sunday said the new consumer agency created by last year’s Wall Street reform law to protect the public from financial fraud was “Stalinist.”

Speaking with David Gregory on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham defended the GOP’s filibuster this week of the president’s nominee to lead the new body as stemming from concern about its power and independence — exactly the things most consumer advocates think makes it a valuable new tool in an era of Wall Street speculation, predatory lending, and illegal foreclosure.

“This consumer bureau that they want to propose is under the Federal Reserve, no appropriation oversight, no board. It is something out of the Stalinist era,” he said

Of course, this bureau — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB — is not being “proposed.” It’s the law of the land, has been operating since July without a director, and desperately needs one
to fulfill its legal obligations to the public, especially in their dealings with non-bank financial institutions.

Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell echoed Graham’s critique on “Fox News Sunday”, saying the director of the CFPB would be a “czar” and would “answer to no one.”

Video of Graham’s unique take follows:

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