Dodd: Put CFPA Inside Federal Reserve [View All]

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) reached out to fellow members of his Banking Committee on Monday to float the latest proposal for a compromise Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would be housed within the Federal Reserve, committee aides said Monday, confirming reports in the Washington Post and Politico.

Dodd and the White House have been signaling for some time that they were less concerned with whether the agency was independent than with its structure and funding stream. Without independent funding, it would be at the whim of lawmakers who might want to block its mission.

The new proposal from Dodd, who is retiring at the end of this year, would grant the agency independent funding and a presidentially-appointed director, another priority for consumer advocates. But it would not give the agency, according to the Post, authority to enforce those rules. The Federal Reserve has had consumer protection laws on its books for years, but consciously elected not to enforce them before the financial crisis.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/01/dodd-put-cfpa-inside-fed_n_481766.html


Please explain how an agency without the authority to enforce rules helps? And the Fed has had consumer protection laws it chose not to enforce for years? A sham in the making, obviously. I've grown old waiting for Washington to start standing up for the average citizen.