It's time to rein in the CFPB

Since I was first elected to Congress, I have fought to hold government agencies and Washington bureaucrats more accountable to Floridians and all Americans. Unfortunately, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) continues to operate in a manner unaccountable to Congress, the president and American taxpayers.

You don't have to take my word on this.

On October 11, 2016, the D.C. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the CFPB's leadership structure unconstitutional. In its decision, the court stated, "The [CFPB] Director enjoys significantly more unilateral power than any single member of any other independent agency[,] . . . power that is not checked by the President or by other colleagues. Indeed, other than the President, the Director of the CFPB is the single most powerful official in the entire United States Government . . . ."

This unsettling unilateral power, coupled with the inability for other arms of the federal government to review or disapprove of the CFPB's actions, not only flies in the face of our government's system of checks and balances, but also promotes rogue operations and regulations that have the potential to grossly alter our economy and harm the livelihoods of millions of Americans.

The CFPB was created by Democrats in response to the 2008 financial crisis as a provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). This 2,300 page piece of legislation was sold to the public as a means to hold bad financial actors accountable, prevent future systemic failures of our financial system, and provide increased transparency and consumer protections for investors. President Obama promised Dodd-Frank would "lift the economy," but once again, he gave the American people false hope.