Senate Obamacare Repeal Failures Warning Sign for Business and Banking Communities on Rescinding Anti-Arbitration Rule

Legal Newsline discusses CEI’s case against the CFPB with Sam Kazman.

Business and banking interests are working to ensure that an upcoming Senate attempt to rescind the Consumer Financial Bureau Protection’s (CFPB) anti-arbitration rule plays out differently than repeated failures by Senate Republicans to repeal any or all of Obamacare. And they are enlisting help on the state level to do it.

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The CFPB itself has also been under fire. The D.C. Circuit Court is reviewing an October ruling by a three-judge panel of the court that declared the structure of the CFPB unconstitutional.

PHH Corporation, a New Jersey mortgage lender that took the consumer bureau to court after it was hit with huge fines, argues that the structure of the agency diminishes the president’s power under Article II of the Constitution to faithfully execute the laws.

In a separate case before the U.S. District Court, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the 60 Plus Association, and the State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas are challenging the constitutionality of the Bureau. The groups argue that the structure of the CFPB violates the Constitution’s separation of powers because the agency is insulated against meaningful checks by the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.

“The CFPB has virtually no accountability,” said Sam Kazman, General Counsel for CEI. “Congress has no control over their budget. They can draw down funds directly from the federal reserve. And the President is only permitted to fire the director for cause.”

Read the full article at Legal Newsline.