Statement by Nancy Zirkin on House-Senate Conference Report on Financial Reform

“The House-Senate conference report on the financial reform legislation represents a historic achievement in the fight to protect consumers from the abusive and predatory Wall Street practices that brought our country to the brink of financial collapse and – along with it – cost countless American families their homes, their jobs, their savings, and their financial security.

The conference report includes a number of provisions that civil rights, consumer, and labor advocates have sought for years, including the establishment of a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB will help everyone, especially Black and Latino families who have been purposely steered into taking subprime and predatory loans they could not afford, even when they qualified for better terms.

For years, Wall Street has operated like a casino for the benefit of a greedy few. It’s time to close the casino doors. The civil and human rights coalition strongly supports the conference report and urges the full House and Senate to approve it without delay.”