CDP,
Please see below a sign on request from Amit Narang (cc-ed) at Public Citizen in opposition to a potential vote as early as next week on a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution
on a CFPB guidance document. The Wilderness Society will be signing onto this letter and I’d encourage other lands and environmental groups to also join this effort.
The deadline to sign-on to Monday, April 16th, at 11 AM. Please sign on at the following link:
https://tinyurl.com/CFPBautolendingCRA
Now, you might be wondering, why is TWS signing a letter on CFPB guidance? Because this is clearly an abuse of the CRA and if the Senate starts considering and passing CRAs
again it opens a whole Pandora’s box where lawmakers can start cherry picking issues, many of which are many years old, and trying to overturn them with a simple majority vote. For example, the CFPB guidance in question was finalized in March 2013, but a GAO
opinion issued in December 2017, concluded that this guidance document could be considered a rule for purposes of the CRA. If this CRA passes it will only encourage opponents of guidance documents issued
by other agencies to use the CRA to repeal those guidance documents, no matter how old they may be.
Of particular concern to The Wilderness Society are two GAO opinions recently requested by Senator Murkowski of Alaska. One 2017 GAO
decision considered the 2016 Amendment to the Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan, approved on December 9, 2016, a "rule" for purposes of the a CRA. Another 2017
opinion considered the 2016 Eastern Interior Resource Management Plan (Eastern Interior Plan) issued on December 30, 2016 as a "rule" for purposes of the CRA. Although land management plans are different
from guidance documents, the use of the CRA to overturn either is clearly an abuse of this tool. If Congress starts expanding the use of the CRA to include land management plans, it means that individual Senators could start going back in time and identifying
land use plans that support recommended wilderness, motorized vehicle restrictions, or extractive limitations and overturn them with a simple up or down Senate vote.
Our best bet to avoid going down this slippery slope is to encourage opposition to any CRA on procedural grounds. If this CRA passes next week, any of our issues could be next.
Please consider signing the letter linked above. I’m happy to talk through any of this, especially as it relates to land management plans. Otherwise, please feel free to reach out to Amit at Public Citizen (202-454-5116;
anarang@citizen.org) with any questions.
Chris Rackens
Senior Representative, Government Relations
The Wilderness Society
202.429.2643
From: Amit Narang <anarang@citizen.org>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2018 9:29 AM
To: Congressional Review Act <cra@listserver.citizen.org>
Subject: RE: CRA VOTE NEXT WEEK--Deadline to Sign Monday 11 AM
Importance: High
Hi everyone,
Senate staff reached out to let us know that the CRA is likely next week, so even faster than we expected. They believe the sign on needs to start circulating
Monday in order to be most helpful. So we are bumping up the deadline to sign-on to Monday, April 16th, at 11 AM.
thanks to all that already signed! For those considering or in the process of getting approval, please prioritize given this latest information.
Happy to answer any questions. Don’t hesitate to reach out.
Amit Narang
Regulatory Policy Advocate
Public Citizen’s Congress Watch
202-454-5116
From: Amit Narang [mailto:anarang@citizen.org]
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2018 10:09 AM
To: CSS Lobby Committee <css-lobby@listserver.citizen.org>
Subject: RE:[css-lobby] New & Important CRA Fight--Sign On Letter--Tues 11 AM
Importance: High
Good Morning,
As promised, we are circulating the attached sign on letter that is also pasted below. It will be critical to show broad and unified opposition to this first
attempt at using the CRA to challenge guidance documents. We are especially encouraging groups that do not work on auto lending or financial reform issues to sign the letter. If the CRA is successful, and particularly if it passes easily with Democratic support,
it will only encourage opponents of guidance documents issued by other agencies to use the CRA to repeal those guidance documents, no matter how old they may be.
The deadline for sign-on is next Tuesday, April 17th, at 10 AM.
Please sign on at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/CFPBautolendingCRA
Thank you in advance for your consideration of this letter and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, thoughts, concerns, etc.
Amit Narang
Regulatory Policy Advocate
Public Citizen’s Congress Watch
202-454-5116
The undersigned organizations are strongly united in opposition to S.J. Resolution 57, sponsored by Sen. Moran (R-KS), which attempts to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to target regulatory actions by federal agencies that were issued
well in the past and have been in effect for years or potentially even decades. We vigorously oppose any attempt by the Senate to subject the “Bulletin on Indirect Auto Lending and Compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act” -- issued by the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2013 -- to a vote under the CRA. Many of us oppose repealing this important guidance on substantive grounds, but we join together today to focus instead on the procedural use of the CRA against a guidance that has been
in place for years.
We oppose such a vote, as it would contravene the clear intent of the CRA to allow Congress to review and challenge
recently finalized agency actions. This would set a dangerous precedent that would allow Congress to stretch the CRA to challenge a wide variety of settled agency actions that have been in effect for years or decades, particularly “guidance documents”
that are not only crucial to protecting workers, consumers, minorities, the environment, and the economy but also to providing regulatory certainty for businesses and the public. Using the special procedures of the CRA, rather than regular legislative order,
to attack years-old guidance would be an extraordinary and egregious abuse of normal process – exactly the kind of rigged action on behalf of narrow corporate insiders that so infuriates Americans of all political stripes.
This Congress has already used the CRA in unprecedented fashion to repeal fourteen common-sense regulations that protect the public, including measures to protect internet privacy, women’s health, retirement security, workplace safety,
fair pay in the workplace, the environment and clean water, and sensible gun control. Unlike the normal legislative process, the CRA is already problematic legislation which gives Congress the ability to strike down regulations that protect the public on behalf
of narrow special interests without any congressional hearings and virtually no floor debate. The appropriate response would be for Congress to revisit this flawed process rather than expand it to actions that were finalized long ago.
Applying the CRA to settled agency actions from the past would violate the clear intent and spirit of the law. The legislative history of the CRA makes plain its purpose: “this legislation establishes a government wide congressional review
mechanism for most new rules.”[1] As a procedural matter, Congress could have, and more appropriately should have, reviewed the guidance at
issue here back in 2013 when it was issued by the CFPB, requested a GAO opinion at that time to determine its eligibility under the CRA and potentially used the CRA to challenge such guidance shortly after its issuance in 2013. Indeed, Congress has made multiple
GAO requests regarding the applicability of the CRA to guidance documents when the guidance was originally issued or shortly thereafter.[2]
Subjecting these actions to the CRA now would fly in the face of congressional intent and stretch the law in ways that were neither anticipated nor expected by those who voted for it. Moreover, it raises suspicions that this CRA challenge is being undertaken
now, rather than following the issuance of the guidance in 2013, because there is a higher chance of success given the makeup of this Congress.
Applying the CRA to long-established guidance would be, simply put, wrongheaded. Guidance documents are often specifically requested by regulated entities and industry stakeholders in order to resolve uncertainties in the application of
regulations to stakeholder business practices, including in the form of so-called “No Action Letters”. Using the CRA to repeal guidance documents would imperil numerous past guidance documents that were not submitted to Congress under the CRA, including many
that were specifically requested by regulated entities or stakeholders. Congress should act with caution, if at all, in using the CRA on guidance documents, but applying the CRA to longstanding guidance would be misguided.
Long-established guidance is not locked into place; it is a relatively simple matter for agencies to revise or repeal longstanding guidance. In fact, agencies have already begun the process of revising or repealing another guidance document
that was the subject of a recent GAO opinion, the so-called “leveraged lending” guidance which ensures that big banks do not engage in risky lending practices that threaten the financial system, without any need for a CRA vote.
Given the long and growing list of legislative issues that need to be addressed by the Senate on an urgent and expedited basis, it is difficult to fathom why the Senate would choose to spend valuable floor time to repeal guidance under
the CRA when such guidance could be effectively repealed by the agency that issued it in short order and with limited procedural requirements. By bringing this vote to the Senate floor, it sends a message to the public that Congress is more interested in giving
narrow handouts to special interests rather than addressing the real issues that impact hard-working Americans and their families. We, the under-signed groups, strongly urge Senators to reject abusing the CRA to attack guidance documents that were issued years
ago, and get back to solving real problems on behalf of the American public. We strongly urge you to reject S.J. Resolution 57.
From: Amit Narang [mailto:anarang@citizen.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 12:46 PM
To: Congressional Review Act <cra@listserver.citizen.org>
Subject: RE: New & Important CRA Fight--Broad Sign On Letter Coming
Friends,
I want to flag this new CRA fight that is apparently a more real threat than we anticipated and will be coming fast. This will be the first vote to use the CRA
to go after “guidance documents” as well as the first vote to use the CRA to attack actions that were issued well in the past but never submitted to Congress under the CRA. Conservative groups have been pushing this “CRA reachback” theory since the beginning
of this Congress and hoping to stretch the destructive impact of the CRA as wide as possible.
It will be critical that as many groups in our community express opposition to this first attempt at abusing the CRA this way by stretching it far beyond its
intent. If Congress is successful in using the CRA to attack and repeal guidance this time, it could potentially be used against guidance documents or other actions that weren’t submitted to Congress, no matter how old those actions are.
Thus, every group on this listserv could be impacted by a successful CRA vote here.
In that vein, Public Citizen is preparing a sign-on letter that we will start circulating shortly, either later today or tomorrow. We believe it is important
that as many groups from as many corners of the community sign on to the letter to present a united front against this unprecedented and dangerous use of the CRA. Showing unified opposition will not only be helpful to fighting this CRA challenge off, but it
will hopefully put down a strong marker against the Congress taking up more of these types of CRA votes in the future.
Please be on the lookout for the sign-on letter and don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, thoughts, etc.
Many thanks,
Amit
Amit Narang
Regulatory Policy Advocate
Public Citizen’s Congress Watch
202-454-5116
From: POLITICO Pro Financial Services Whiteboard [mailto:politicoemail@politicopro.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 10:31 AM
To: Amit Narang <anarang@citizen.org>
Subject: Toomey confident CFPB auto-lending safeguard will be repealed
By Zachary Warmbrodt
04/10/2018 10:28 AM EDT
Sen.
Pat Toomey today said he expected lawmakers to act soon to repeal CFPB restrictions on auto lending, with the clock ticking under the law that gives them the power to block it.
Speaking at a Washington conference hosted by the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Pennsylvania Republican said "we're going to repeal it within the next few weeks."
Toomey has played a
lead role in chipping away at the CFPB measure, which the bureau issued as guidance in 2013. The restrictions targeted "indirect" auto lenders that provide credit to car buyers through dealerships.
After a review at the request of Toomey, the Government Accountability Office found that the guidance was equivalent to a rule under the Congressional Review Act, making it subject to congressional intervention under the law. Once a rule is submitted to
Congress, lawmakers have 60 session days to block it under the CRA in a fast-track process that can bypass a Senate filibuster.
Sen.
Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
filed legislation in March that would block the CFPB policy.
"I know the clock runs out and I think we have the votes to repeal it," Toomey said in a brief interview. "So I think we'll do it."
WHAT'S NEXT: CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney testifies before the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday.
To view online:
https://www.politicopro.com/financial-services/whiteboard/2018/04/toomey-confident-cfpb-auto-lending-safeguard-will-be-repealed-982119
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