During debate on the House floor, Rep. French Hill (R-AR) urged passage of a resolution that would overturn a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule regarding digital payment systems.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I rise today in strong support of this resolution to overturn the Consumer Financial Protection
00:05Bureau's deeply flawed final rule on larger participants in general use digital payment
00:13applications.
00:14Sounds complicated, Mr. Speaker, but it's not.
00:18This is a midnight rule created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and it's overly
00:24broad and it's imprecise.
00:27It treats a wide variety of digital payment applications, peer-to-peer apps, digital wallets,
00:34e-commerce tools, as though they are identical simply because they facilitate payments and
00:42serve a large number of users.
00:45But these products are not the same.
00:48They serve different models, operate under different rules, and pose different kinds of
00:53consumer risks.
00:56This kind of regulatory overreach is bad enough on its own.
01:00But what makes this rule especially concerning is the process by which it was created.
01:07The CFPB's approach to carry out this rulemaking is a clear example of undemocratic and unjustified
01:15action.
01:17The CFPB gave the public just 30 days to comment on this proposal.
01:2430 days for businesses across the country, members of Congress, state regulators, and the public
01:32to weigh in on a rule that has potentially profound consequences for digital commerce, one of the most rapidly
01:41growing portions of financial services and FinTech.
01:45In addition, the Bureau rushed to finalize the rule in the waning days of the Biden administration,
01:52ignoring much of the stakeholder feedback and pushing it through to try and insulate it from future scrutiny or reconsideration.
02:02Now, this is not the first time that the CFPB has issued rules without sufficient transparency or process.
02:11In fact, members on both sides of the aisle during my years in Congress have routinely criticized the CFPB for rushing matters,
02:20not following the process, not giving the public sufficient time to criticize and critique its proposals.
02:28But Mr. Speaker, this needs to be the last time that the CFPB does this.
02:34In a post-Chevron deference world, Congress must step in and assert our Article I authority over independent agencies
02:42that stray beyond their statutory authority, bypass the legislative process, and undermine the public trust.
02:51Let's be clear. There's no apparent evidence of widespread consumer harm that justifies this rule.
03:00There's no demonstrated market failure here.
03:04What we have instead is an agency stretching its mandate in a way Congress never intended.
03:12By allowing this final rule to remain intact, we are affirming that scale alone justifies the regulation,
03:21meaning size, scope, alone justifies the regulation, regardless of the conduct, the risk, or harm to a consumer.
03:31This CFPB approach violates decades of balanced principles in assessing and implementing regulations in finance.
03:40And it's certainly not the barometer that Congress intended for the CFPB to use when interpreting their authorities.
03:49This is not responsible risk-based regulation.
03:53It's a shortcut to control applied without the justification that both consumers and innovators deserve.
04:03Some may try to frame this argument as a gift to big tech. That's a distraction.
04:12This is not about defending large companies. This is about defending good governance, our legislative authority, and the public's right to be part of major, costly, regulatory decision-making.
04:26If we allow this rule to stand, we're setting a dangerous precedent, one where federal agencies can bypass Congress, ignore public input, and rewrite rules largely behind closed doors.
04:40This is a precedent that we cannot afford to set, regardless of who's in the White House or who's in the crosshairs.
04:47Mr. Speaker, the CFPB operated without accountability or transparency. It has undermined consumer protections, stifled innovation, and eroded the public trust.
04:59I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution and reassert the proper role of Congress in setting the regulatory agenda and shaping sound financial policy, and I reserve the balance of my time.
05:14The gentleman from Arkansas reserves, gentleman from California.
05:16I'm from California.