Dear John,

They’re trying to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau again -- and we need your help to stop them.

Created after the 2008 financial crash, the CFPB is the only federal agency devoted exclusively to protecting consumers from Wall Street’s predatory practices. Since then, it has won over $13.5 billion in relief for about 175 million consumers in the form of restitution or canceled debts -- and billions more in penalties.

Now, the Supreme Court has decided to hear the appeal of the ultra-conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision declaring the CFPB’s funding mechanism unconstitutional. So, Wall Street’s Republican allies in Congress are escalating their decade-plus effort to nuke the agency by starving it of funds.

The Fifth Circuit was dead wrong, so wrong that even this extreme Supreme Court may overturn the decision. That won’t stop Wall Street’s allies in Congress from rushing ahead with their plan to destroy the CFPB, using the court case as cover.

Republican, independent, and Democratic voters support the CFPB’s work. Only Wall Street and their allies in Congress hate it. If we can generate enough public pressure against the Republican plan, we can stop them. Please send a direct message to your members of Congress now.

Republican Rep. Andy Barr’s bill, the Taking Account of Bureaucrats’ Spending Act, also known as the TABS Act, would replace the CFPB’s independent funding mechanism, which other banking regulators also have, with annual appropriations by Congress. Republicans want to starve the agency into submission.

It’s a gift to Wall Street. That’s why the Chamber of Commerce wasted no time to write a letter in support last time Barr tried to pass this bill.

This time, after the Trumpified Fifth Circuit Court's decision and the possibility that the US Supreme Court could rule in agreement, Republican leadership could fast-track this dangerous bill to a vote.

And it might work. Unless, we organize NOW to stop them.

This is a fight that can’t wait. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is under attack and it needs our support. Please sign and send your message now!

Thank you for taking action, and for everything you do to support a strong, stable, and ethical financial system.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action