The CFPB Is Making Government More Accountable. The GOP Wants to Stop It.

Barbara Kiviat wrote for the Washington Monthly on the GOP's attempt to reduce transparency and accountability within the CFPB:

"The Financial CHOICE Act would fulfill the long-time Republican goal of significantly weakening the CFPB, the financial industry watchdog that has won nearly $12 billion for mistreated consumers since the bureau was formed in 2011. One of the many changes is to remove the CFPB's wildly popular consumer complaints database (1 million complaints and counting) from public view. President Trump has endorsed the bill, his administration citing among his core principles for financial reform a desire to 'restor[e] public accountability within Federal financial regulatory agencies.' But that rhetoric doesn't match reality. Keeping complaints visible to the full American public, and not just to government bureaucrats, represents one of the more innovative mechanisms of accountability to emerge from federal government in recent years."