Rift Grows Over Financial Agency Proposal
Nearly two dozen business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter Monday to the leaders of the House Financial Services Committee raising concerns about proposals to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The letter urges Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank and ranking member Spencer Bachus to delay consideration of a CFPA until after the August recess "to provide due time for all stakeholders and decision-makers to fully understand the legislation's scope and its potential economic and legal impacts," CongressDaily reported (subscription required).
Also signing on were a number of major players in the high-tech and advertising space including the Consumer Electronics Association, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Consumer Data Industry Association, Direct Marketing Association, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The letter is viewed by some consumer advocates like Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy and Ed Mierzwinski of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group as an attempt to kill the legislation, which would create a new federal watchdog.
The IAB, whose board's executive committee includes representatives from Google, AOL and Walt Disney Co., is afraid of having an agency that would be empowered to investigate how online marketers sell and promote a wide range of financial products online, Chester said. Mierzwinski called the proposal to create such an agency "a game changer" and "the biggest thing for financial consumers since deposit insurance in the 1930s." He testified June 24 at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the issue. Read a copy of the business groups' letter to Frank and Bachus here (PDF).
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus