President Barack Obama blasted Senate Republicans for opposing the confirmation of a director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and passing a payroll tax holiday extension.
Senate Democrats earlier this week failed to get the 60 votes needed to end debate on the nomination and confirmation of Richard Cordray to lead the agency after all but one Republican, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, voted against moving forward. After that vote, President Obama criticized Republicans for their opposition and he did so again during his weekly radio address on Saturday.
“I refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer,” the president said. “Financial institutions have plenty of high-powered lawyers and lobbyists looking out for them. It’s time consumers had someone on their side.”
The CFPB was created after Congress passed the financial reform law in 2010. Part of its responsibilities is to make sure non-bank entities do not take advantage of middle class Americans, but that cannot happen until the bureau gets a director.
“[It’s created to] protect American families from being taken advantage of by mortgage lenders, payday lenders and debt collectors,” Obama said. “Do Republicans in Congress think our financial crisis was caused by too much oversight of mortgage lenders or debt collectors? Of course not. And every day America has to wait for new consumer protection watchdog is another day that dishonest businesses can target and take advantage of students, seniors and service members.”
Beyond the CFPB, President Obama also continued his push for passing the payroll tax holiday and said Congress should remain in session until they did.
“No one should go home for the holidays until we get this done,” he said. “America faces a make-or-break moment for the middle class.”
Obama has proposed not only extending the payroll tax holiday but also expanding it so it would be cut in half to 3.1 percent next year. Republicans have expressed opposition to the payroll tax cut even though decreasing it to 3.1 percent would give the average American middle class family an additional $1,500 to spend and help boost the economy in 2012.
Senate Democrats have attempted to bring up the tax cut two times already but both times Senate Republicans blocked it from getting the necessary 60 votes to move forward. House Republicans on Friday released their legislation to extend the payroll tax cut but it not only was filled with “policy riders” but also would add $25.3 billion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office – a vote on that bill could come as early as Tuesday.
While House Republicans have said they would be more willing to vote in favor of the bill with the “policy riders” attached, the fact that it would add to the deficit might detract them from voting on it anyway. Even if it did pass, though, President Obama has threatened to veto it if it managed to pass the Senate and included things that did not directly help the middle class and the economy. He said instead of playing partisan games, Congress needed to act in a way that helped the American people instead of continuing on a path that got the country into the mess its in, in the first place.
“After the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, some still want to return to the same policies that got us into this mess,” he said. “They’re the same policies that have stacked the deck against working Americans for too long. They’re part of a philosophy that says we’re better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules.”
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