Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Urging Senate Republicans To Support His Resolution Protecting Homeowners From Predatory Mortgage Lending

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor urging Senate Republicans to defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and protect Americans from predatory practices. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, CFPB, has played a critical role on the side of people to help them avoid junk fees, predatory medical debt, payday lenders who take advantage of people in need, including so many of our military service members. So it should come as no surprise that Donald Trump is no fan of the CFPB. He's always sided with big special interests over average folks, and he has undermined its protections for the American people.

Senate Democrats have made clear time and time again Donald Trump's policies are one big broken promise in lowering costs for the American people. Trump undermining consumer protections is just another example of Trump's betrayal, betrayal of working people.

Today, I'm defending the CFPB for the same reason I helped authorize it years ago. American consumers need to have someone, someone in their corner. It is a critical tool to reducing people's everyday costs, from health care and banking to housing.

So, I'm heading up this joint resolution of disapproval with many of my colleagues against the Trump administration's decision to reverse CFPB protections on mortgage lending called contract-for-deed transactions that, without the proper guardrails, can devolve into predatory practices against Americans trying to buy a home.

For millions of Americans who can't access a traditional mortgage, a contract-for-deed can seem like a lifeline, but too often these arrangements are simply traps. The buyer takes on every obligation of home ownership immediately, the taxes, the repairs, the risks, but doesn't receive the deed until they pay every last dollar.

This is a formula for failure. Miss a single payment, you can lose everything. No equity, no recourse, evicted like a tenant. Two hundred thousand New Yorkers are in this position.

We must stop it, and I urge a yes vote.