You'll never guess who's going around Washington, trolling the halls of Congress, talking about the importance of protecting the long-term health of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The banking industry.

That's right: After years of trying to kill, then delay, and then defang the agency, the banking industry and their Republican friends in Congress have launched a new effort to attract Democratic support for their latest attack by claiming that they just want to help the agency and the consumers it protects. Surely Democrats will not be taken in by yet another attempt to weaken the CFPB.

In short, the agency is working, which may be exactly why the big banks and their Republican friends are pushing so hard to tangle it up with a different administrative structure. The arguments they offer for their bill don't even pass the smell test.

We saw this movie before, when the big banks raked in billions of dollars financing crazy mortgages, deceptive credit cards, and dozens of other tricky products -- and it ended with a crash that cost the economy as much as $14 trillion and a fat bailout for the very people who caused it. It's time to say no to the big banks and no to their lobbyists, their lawyers and their Republican friends in Congress.

The CFPB is starting to make a difference. It's working on the side of people -- not giant banks or shady payday lenders -- holding lawbreakers accountable and helping level the financial playing field. That kind of independence can't be tolerated in some circles. For years, both the industry and the Republicans have made clear -- directly and indirectly, in front of cameras and behind closed doors -- that they want a toothless consumer agency, an agency that waters down rules, settles with lawbreakers on the cheap, and doesn't interfere with industry profit-making even when it means robbing consumers.

Votes over the CFPB present the same choice today that they always have -- a choice between big banks and predatory lenders on one side and families on the other.

Me? I'm with the families.