Elizabeth Warren - Too big for trial

Addressed to me,

When is the last time the government took a big Wall Street bank all the way to trial for breaking the law?

That's what I asked some of the country's top federal banking regulators at my first Banking Committee hearing this week.

The question stumped the panel. There have been some landmark settlements over the past couple years, but the pattern in Washington has been to settle with the big banks and reach voluntary agreements rather than ever go all the way to trial.

I think that's wrong. The government's unwillingness or inability to take the big banks all the way to trial reduces its leverage in settlement negotiations. It also means that what the big banks did wrong -- the days and days of testimony about illegal mortgage foreclosures or collusion on interest rates -- stay hidden from view.

I'm going to keep asking hard questions. I'm going to keep fighting for across-the-board, consistent accountability -- no matter how big the corporation or how politically connected it is.

But I need your help.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau we worked so hard to create is pushing back on big banks, but the Senate Republicans are blocking a vote on the nomination of my friend Richard Cordray to be its permanent Director. We need to demand that Rich Cordray gets an up-or-down vote.

Why are the Senate Republicans blocking a vote on Rich Cordray? Just take a look at what the agency has done so far.

The CFPB has already forced the credit card companies to return nearly half a billion dollars that they had cheated from consumers. The agency is helping students get better information about student loans and has a hotline to help consumers get back money when they have been cheated. And the agency has put out new rules on mortgages that will protect families and level the playing field between small financial institutions like community banks and credit unions and larger ones.

In other words, the agency is starting to work.

But for two years, Senate Republicans have held Richard Cordray hostage, saying they will block any vote on Director unless the Senate Democrats agree to weaken the agency and limit its ability to hold the big banks and credit card companies accountable.

They don't want to see strong enforcement of our laws, plain and simple.

It took hundreds of thousands of people across the country fighting for an up-or-down vote to get a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- and now it's going to take hundreds of thousands of people fighting to get Rich Cordray confirmed.

This week, I joined Senators Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Sherrod Brown of Ohio to call for an up-or-down vote on Rich Cordray. I'm going to keep on fighting each and every day until he gets a vote.

Will you help us keep fighting to level the playing field for working families? Sign my petition to demand an up-or-down vote for Rich Cordray now.

Thank you for putting the wind in our sails to keep fighting. This is how we bring real change -- we do it together.

Elizabeth

http://elizabethwarren.com