From AFR: Stop The Debt Trap - Payday Lending in the News.

For more recent press hits worth sharing, check out#StopTheDebtTrap News Stories! Highlight Federal judge rejects CFPB's effort to halt payday rule June 13, American Banker A federal court dealt a blow to efforts by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to slow down the agency's payday lending rule. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel on Tuesday denied the request by acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney that the court delay the payday rule's effective date, which is set for next year. More Coverage: CFPB Payday Rule Will Go Live Next Year, Judge Says | Bloomberg Texas Court Rules Against CFPB’s Payday Lending Act Delay | PYMNTS.com Tweet: "Mick Mulvaney and the payday lenders tried an end-run around the law and it was rightly rejected," said Will Corbett, litigation counsel @CRLONLINE. "Today’s ruling is a win for consumers." #ProtectConsumers #StopTheDebtTrap http://bit.ly/2K6AWX4   Other News    Legal Aid official describes firing of advisers to federal consumer board June 17, The Florida Times Union Over 60 members of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s three advisory boards comprised of volunteers from industry and consumer groups as wells as academics were all fired recently. White House Confirms That Mulvaney Deputy Is Pick to Lead Consumer Bureau June 16, The New York Times Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director and acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has picked a deputy at the budget office, Kathy Kraninger, to succeed him at the consumer watchdog agency, a White House spokeswoman confirmed on Saturday. REPOST: WRAL.com More Coverage: Trump's consumer watchdog pick draws criticism from left and right | Reuters President Trump To Tap Mulvaney Associate To Lead Consumer Bureau | NPR Pa. lawmakers should reject this exploitative payday lending bill June 15, Harrisburg Patriot News It's the rare day that goes by in Harrisburg when state lawmakers don't praise the virtues of Pennsylvania's active-duty servicemen and women and its veterans. Yet a nakedly exploitative bill now before the House Commerce Committee, if approved, would open a loophole in state law big enough to drive an Abrams tank through, trapping those same heroes in a crushing cycle of debt. More Coverage: Reject legislation to aid payday lenders | The Morning Call Rep. Heffley accused of sneaking payday lending bill through committee | City & State CFPB’s Acting Director Is Acting Up: Mulvaney Joins Payday Industry to Fight Regulation June 13, The Pasadena Journal Mick Mulvaney, the illegally appointed Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a glaring example of one who appears to consistently relegate the financial concerns of America’s people in favor of businesses that harm instead of help consumers. His support of the payday and small-dollar lending industry is a prime example. In Our View: We’re Inviting Another Crisis June 12, The Columbian With the nation barely out from under the shadow of the Great Recession, the Trump administration and a complicit Congress continue to ignore the lessons of the past decade. Safeguards put in place to protect against another economic meltdown are being rolled back, while protections for consumers are being ignored. For more recent press hits worth sharing, check out#StopTheDebtTrap News Stories!

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From AFR: 2017 Voting Record: Where They Stand on Financial Reform

2017 Voting Record: Where They Stand on Financial Reform

The AFR Advocacy Fund has released its voting record for 2017, the first year of the 115th Congress. “Where They Stand on Financial Reform” (linked and attached) tracks more than 55 votes—including both legislation and nominations—that gave House members and Senators a choice: They could decide to stand up for consumers, borrowers, investors and the safety, transparency, and accountability of the financial system. Or they could take the side of big banks and other powerful financial industry interests.

The report includes summaries of each bill, amendment, resolution, or confirmation decision, and tables of the relevant House and Senate votes with the measures presented side by side, making it easy to see how a particular House member or Senator voted on the full complement of issues, and who voted for or against any particular measure.

Taken together, these votes show a disturbing readiness, on the part of many of those currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, to do the financial industry’s bidding without regard for harm to families and communities. Other members of Congress have, by contrast, resisted the industry’s pressure and consistently stood up for the public interest, but they have been outvoted time and again.

While many dangerous bills advanced in 2017, only two of the legislative measures covered in this report — a massive tax-cut bill with large favors for Wall Street, and a resolution overturning a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule on forced arbitration — passed into law. But more bad bills are likely to make their way into law in 2018. S 2155, a package of financial deregulation measures, including some of those covered here, has already passed the Senate. We are continuing to monitor every financial regulatory bill voted on in either chamber that poses a threat to the public. 

“A decade after the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street and the stock market are booming while wage gains remain elusive for most American workers, and wealth gaps continue to grow, contributing to a decades-long trend of widening inequality,” the report says. “And yet, even as fresh scandals continue to underscore the danger of letting banks and financial companies write their own rules, majorities of both chambers of Congress have taken up Wall Street’s call for renewed deregulation, throwing their weight behind a seemingly endless series of proposals to roll back post-crisis reforms and weaken the agencies responsible for enforcing them. To judge by the measures that  a majority of lawmakers have authored, sponsored, and voted for, their agenda is to generate bigger immediate rewards for banks, financial companies, and their executives, no matter the dangers and costs for borrowers, homeowners, investors, or the overall economy.”

In a final section of the report, we list lawmakers of both parties who have voted particularly often to support the financial industry lobby and its policy wish list.