Richard Cordray to Lead America’s Consumer Watchdog

·        The President used his Constitutional authority today to recess-appoint former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Product Bureau – America’s first-ever consumer watchdog created by the President’s Wall Street reform.  

·        This is the latest in a series of “We Can’t Wait” executive actions the President has taken to move the country forward in the face of Congressional inaction and to strengthen the economy. 

·        As America’s consumer watchdog, Richard Cordray will have one job – looking out for the best interests of consumers. His job will be to protect families from the abuses of the financial industry, and make sure you’ve got all the information you need to make important financial decisions.   

·        Right away, he’ll start working to make sure millions of Americans are treated fairly by mortgage brokers, payday lenders and debt collectors.  

·        Just this week, the CFPB is launching a simple phone number – 1 (855) 411-CFPB – you can call to make sure you’re getting a fair deal on your mortgage, and hold banks and brokers accountable if you’re not.  

·        If you’re a veteran, the Bureau will help make sure you aren’t taken advantage of when you come home from serving our country. If you’re a senior, they’ll keep you from losing your home or your retirement because someone saw you as an easy target. 

·        The President is taking this executive action because Republicans have refused to confirm Richard Cordray, who the President nominated last summer. By refusing to confirm Richard Cordray, Congressional Republicans – with Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and other Republican presidential candidates right behind them – stopped the consumer watchdog bureau from doing its job. Until a director is in place, the consumer watchdog cannot stand up to payday lenders, debt collectors, credit-reporting agencies and private student lenders.

·        Despite having strong bipartisan support across the country and a record of protecting consumers from dishonest lending practices and recovering billions of dollars in things like pension funds on behalf of retirees, Republicans in the Senate won’t give him an up or down vote. It’s not because they don’t support Cordray – it’s because they don’t believe America needs a consumer watchdog at all.

·        The President disagrees. He believes that everyone should play by the same rules so that hard work pays off and responsibility – not recklessness – is rewarded. Today’s announcement means the end to the era of two rulebooks: one for big banks on Wall Street and another for businesses on Main Street.

·        Wall Street’s recklessness affected nearly every American – those of us with credit cards, student loans, mortgages and home-equity lines, as well as those of us saving for emergencies, a down payment, college and retirement. For too long, there was no place where families or small business could turn when fine print changed the terms of their loans, or when they were hit with hidden charges, new fees, or penalties on their credit cards or debit cards.  

·        The American people work hard and are fighting to reclaim the security they lost in the financial collapse. They simply demand that Wall Street and the big financial institutions follow the rules, live up to their agreements, and are held accountable. That’s what Richard Cordray will do every day as America’s consumer watchdog.

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Talking Points: Iowa Dems Enthusiastic; Romney, Beholden to Tea Party, Falters Against Weak Field

·        The Iowa caucus was an opportunity to test our organization and expand our volunteer base as we move toward November, and Tuesday’s results showed an incredible amount of enthusiasm for the President’s reelection, and to preserve the change that we’ve delivered together.

·        Not only did 25,000 Iowans turn out to talk about the President's record and vision to restore security to the middle class, but 7,500 Iowans pledged to volunteer and work for the campaign. Compare that to the fraction of that number that turned out for President Bush in 2004 in a similar uncontested caucus.

·        A day after predicting victory and after 6 years of trying to win Iowa, Mitt Romney fell short of the vote total he received in 2008, even though this Republican field is significantly weaker.

·        It was a poor performance from a candidate who did everything possible to win – even sacrificing principles to become the self-professed Tea Party candidate and to get to the right of Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich.

·        Regardless of what happens in New Hampshire or any state after that, he’s leaving Iowa with significant primary baggage that will weigh him down should he make it to the general election, including:   

• Promising to veto the DREAM Act and denying young immigrants who are here through no fault of their own and want to serve America a chance at citizenship.
• Belittling the President’s $1,000 dollar middle-class tax cut as a “little Band-Aid,” even though his own plan offers typical middle-class families only $54.
• Doubling down on his idea to “let Detroit go bankrupt,” even though the President’s rescue of the auto industry saved more than 1.4 million American jobs.
• Saying that he’d let the foreclosure process “hit the bottom” so investors can come in and make a quick buck.  
• Backing Republican budgets that would end Medicare as we know it, gut Social Security and slash funding for higher education.
• Criticizing the President for ending the war in Iraq and saying he’d leave 30,000 troops on the ground with no plan for withdrawal. 

·        It’s also clear from tonight’s results that neither Republican moderates nor conservatives trust Romney because he shifts his positions on anything and everything to suit his political needs.  

·        Mitt Romney lost support among independents; even Ron Paul got three times as much support among independents as Mitt Romney. And unsurprisingly, he lost support among the middle-class voters he has no plan to help. It’s telling that the group among which he led was voters who have reservations about their candidate.

·        Mitt Romney’s own party – like the rest of America – has serious doubts about his candidacy. And general election voters will have serious reservations about the positions he has committed to during the primary.

Let me know if you have any questions and/or concerns!

Thanks,

Sincerely
Ray
Raymond G. Sandoval, Esq.
New Mexico State Director
Obama for America 2012
Mobile: 505.715.0736
Email: RSandoval@barackobama.com