This week’s introduction of a Congressional measure to “reform and refocus” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — changing the bureau’s structure from director led to a bipartisan five-person commission appointed by the president — received immediate cheers from eight different organizations representing banks, credit unions and finance companies.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, chairman of the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee, outlined H.R. 1266 — the Financial Product Safety Commission Act of 2015 — after the U.S. House Financial Services committee welcomed CFPB director Richard Cordray, who shared the agency’s semiannual report during a hearing on Capitol Hill.

“As we approach the five-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB, now is a good time to reflect on the bureau’s impact on the American consumer,” said Neugebauer, a Texas Republican. “Over the last several years, the bureau’s actions and record have proven it can’t function in a sustainable manner.

“Perhaps, more than any other Washington agency, the CFPB has demonstrated a lack of transparency and a lack of accountability,” he continued. “It has proven it is susceptible to political influence — bringing into question its independence.”

Neugebauer pointed out that current lawmaker and CFPB architect Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Rep. Barney Frank and President Obama originally supported a board leadership structure for the CFPB.

“This bill is not an attempt to weaken the CFPB,” Neugebauer said. “It is a push to strengthen the CFPB and ensure greater consumer protections for the American people. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee and in Congress to move this much-needed bill forward.”

“The bureau has an important mission: to protect consumers,” he continued. “I support consumer protection, but we must ensure product choice, credit availability and cost of credit are considered before rushing to regulate.

“To better serve the American people, the Bureau must adopt a more balanced and consultative process to its rulemaking,” Neugebauer went on to say.

Soon after Neugebauer introduced the measure, American Financial Services Association president and chief executive officer Chris Stinebert reiterated a sentiment elaborated in a letter delivered to Neugebauer and signed by eight other organizations.

“AFSA applauds Rep. Randy Neugebauer, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, for introducing the Financial Product Safety Commission Act of 2015, which calls for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be governed by a five-member bipartisan commission rather than a sole director,” Stinebert said.

“AFSA supports reforms to the CFPB’s governance that will encourage a dynamic consumer credit marketplace and promote access to affordable credit,” he continued.

“Being overseen by a commission will bring more accountability to the bureau, to the benefit of the American people,” Stinebert went on to say.

Wide-Ranging Support for Measure

Along with AFSA, the support letter was signed by seven other organizations, including:

— American Bankers Association
— Consumer Bankers Association
— Credit Union National Association
— Financial Services Roundtable
— Independent Community Bankers of America
— National Association of Federal Credit Unions
— U.S. Chamber of Commerce

The organizations pointed out that the CFPB’s “massive” jurisdiction includes an entire sector of American finance from banks and credit unions, to innumerable financial services companies of all sizes, including larger participants in the financial system, “ultimately touching all Americans.”

The groups continued by stating, “As trade associations representing those institutions supporting America’s consumers, we write to express our support for the legislation you introduced today that will ensure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains a strong and effective regulator whose mission is to protect consumers regardless of which political party is in the White House.

Like Neugebauer, the organizations state that a five-member commission as Congress originally intended will better balance consumer access to financial products with the need to ensure a fair marketplace. Back in 2009, the groups recapped that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then-House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, and Ranking Member Maxine Waters led passage of legislation in the House with strong Democrat support to create a five-member commission to oversee the CFPB, which the groups contend is nearly identical to what the Financial Product Safety Commission Act of 2015 proposes to do.

“A commission would serve as a source of balance and stability for consumers and the financial services industry by encouraging internal debate and deliberation, ultimately leading to increased transparency,” the organizations said. “Moreover, a commission will further promote CFPB’s ability to make bipartisan and reasoned judgments; will offer consumers the protection they deserve and the industry the certainty it needs, which in turn will help strengthen the economy; and will avoid the risk of politically motivated decisions, which could result in harm to consumers.

“In sum, the CFPB has tremendous authority to supervise a multi-trillion dollar industry, which as we have learned, can have incredible ramifications on our economy. As such, it is imperative the CFPB remain stable, be deliberative, and remain bipartisan — for the sake of the American consumer and the U.S. economy,” they went on to say.

Other Lawmakers Involved

Rep. Randy Neugebauer was joined by the following 20 original cosponsors:

— Rep. Sean Duffy
— Rep. Andy Barr
— Rep. Frank Guinta
— Rep. Bill Huizenga
— Rep. Scott Garrett
— Rep. David Schweikert
— Rep. Keith Rothfus
— Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer
— Rep. Steve Pearce
— Rep. Scott Tipton
— Rep. Roger Williams
— Rep. Dennis Ross
— Rep. Ann Wagner
— Rep. Bruce Poliquin
— Rep. Lynn Westmoreland
— Rep. French Hill
— Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick
— Rep. Robert Pittenger
— Rep. Mia Love
— Rep. Patrick McHenry

“The CFPB undoubtedly remains the single most powerful and least accountable Federal agency in all of Washington,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, another Texas Republican who now is Financial Services Committee Chairman. “When it comes to the credit cards, auto loans and mortgages of hardworking taxpayers the CFPB has unbridled, discretionary power not only to make those less available and more expensive, but to absolutely take them away.

“Consequently, Americans are losing both their financial independence and the protection of the rule of law,” Hensarling continued. “The bureau is fundamentally unaccountable to the president since the director can only be removed for cause. Fundamentally unaccountable to Congress because the bureau’s funding is not subject to appropriations. Fundamentally unaccountable to the courts because Dodd-Frank requires courts to grant the CFPB deference regarding its interpretation of Federal consumer financial law.

“Thus, the bureau regrettably remains unaccountable to the American people. That is why we need the CFPB on budget and led by a bipartisan commission; mere testimony is not the equivalent to accountability,” he went on to say.

Meanwhile, Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and now ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, chastised Hensarling and other lawmakers who support this new measure to alter how the CFPB operates.

“Taking their strategy from Wall Street, predatory lenders and other bad actors in our financial system, the Republicans on this committee have advanced countless measures that would undermine the CFPB’s ability to protect consumers from deceptive marketing, unlawful debt collection, lending discrimination, illegal fees, and other unscrupulous activity,” Waters said.

“This includes legislation to destabilize CFPB’s leadership, end its autonomy, and tie its independent funding to the whims of the Congressional appropriations process. And it also includes a number of efforts designed to bog the bureau down in additional paperwork — whether through legislation or through threats of subpoenas,” she continued.

“I cannot imagine staff time and resources that the Bureau has spent responding to your frivolous requests at the expense of helping our nation’s consumers,” Waters went on to say. “But that’s precisely the Republican playbook. They want the CFPB to be wasting resources digging out from under a deluge of requests – so that the payday lenders, debt collectors and other predators can continue victimizing the American people unabated.

“(The Republican party) pretends to care about the huge challenges of income inequality and minority access to credit, vilifying this agency as “hurting the very people we are trying to help,” she added.