Floor SpeechBipartisan2026-05-13

PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE...

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On 2026-05-13, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) delivered a floor speech titled "PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE BUR" in the Senate.

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PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE...

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 81 (Wednesday, May 13, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 13, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S2264-S2265] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE RELATING TO ``EXAMINATIONS FOR RISKS TO ACTIVE-DUTY SERVICEMEMBERS AND THEIR COVERED DEPENDENTS''--Motion to Proceed Mr. REED. Madam President, I move proceed to Calendar No. 388, S.J. Res. 132. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion. The bill clerk read as follows: Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 388, S.J. Res. 132, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to the withdrawal of the rule relating to ``Examinations for Risks to Active-Duty Servicemembers and Their Covered Dependents''. The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will be 2 minutes for debate. Mr. REED. Madam President, it is not enough that President Trump has injected chaos and inflation into the economy with his illegal tariffs, unauthorized war, and his so-called Big Beautiful Bill. He is also stripping protections for average Americans against being defrauded and scammed out of their money. Case in point, through Russell Vought, who is moonlighting as the Director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or the CFPB, Trump is dismantling the Military Lending Act or MLA. He has fired the CFPB staff responsible for enforcing this law, dismissing active cases against lenders for defrauding and scamming the troops, and refusing to supervise financial companies to make sure they comply with the Military Lending Act. Back in 2006, the Senate passed the Military Lending Act by unanimous consent. I strongly support this law because as a former military officer, I have seen how servicemembers have had their lives and careers ruined by predatory lending. And in 2010, the Senate strengthened this law again in a bipartisan fashion--completely bipartisan--by giving the CFPB powerful supervision and enforcement authority. Since then, the CFPB has returned $360 million to servicemembers and veterans. They have won major cases for violations of the MLA, and as result, corrected the behavior of many predatory lenders. But Mr. Vought is unilaterally defanging this Agency--taking it apart. Besides removing staff, he has issued guidance stripping the Agency of its authority to supervise nonbank lenders for compliance with the MLA. Who are these nonbank lenders? These are the payday lenders who set up shop outside military bases and target young servicemembers with loans [[Page S2265]] that leave them with huge debts and exorbitant interest payments that can be in some cases in the triple digits. Mr. Vought wants to give these lenders free rein to go after servicemembers to take away their well-earned compensation, and in many cases--I have seen it personally--to put them in a financial spiral that pushes them out of the service and into a very, very difficult and challenging life. Today, this Senate can go on record, as it has in the past, in a very strong bipartisan vote to rescind Mr. Vought's guidance and protect our servicemembers. Now, every one of us goes back home and gets with the veterans groups and says: We owe you more than we can pay you. We respect what you have done. And those servicemen who are serving today in the Persian Gulf, they have to get the support they need, and frankly, they don't get it. It is an easy choice: the troops or Russell Vought's attempt to suppress these troops who are serving us. And I would urge passage of this proposal. I ask for the yeas and nays. Vote on Motion to Proceed The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The question is on agreeing to the motion to proceed. The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk called the roll. The result was announced--yeas 48, nays 52, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 121 Leg.] YEAS--48 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Collins Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--52 Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schmitt). The Senator from Georgia. ____________________

Referenced legislation: SJRES132, SJRES132

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PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE... Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 81 (Wednesday, May 13, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 13, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S2264-S2265] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION RELATING TO THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE RULE RELATING TO ``EXAMINATIONS FOR RISKS TO ACTIVE-DUTY SERVICEMEMBERS AND THEIR COVERED DEPENDENTS''--Motion to Proceed Mr. REED. Madam President, I move proceed to Calendar No. 388, S.J. Res. 132. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion. The bill clerk read as follows: Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 388, S.J. Res. 132, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to the withdrawal of the rule relating to ``Examinations for Risks to Active-Duty Servicemembers and Their Covered Dependents''. The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will be 2 minutes for debate. Mr. REED. Madam President, it is not enough that President Trump has injected chaos and inflation into the economy with his illegal tariffs, unauthorized war, and his so-called Big Beautiful Bill. He is also stripping protections for average Americans against being defrauded and scammed out of their money. Case in point, through Russell Vought, who is moonlighting as the Director of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or the CFPB, Trump is dismantling the Military Lending Act or MLA. He has fired the CFPB staff responsible for enforcing this law, dismissing active cases against lenders for defrauding and scamming the troops, and refusing to supervise financial companies to make sure they comply with the Military Lending Act. Back in 2006, the Senate passed the Military Lending Act by unanimous consent. I strongly support this law because as a former military officer, I have seen how servicemembers have had their lives and careers ruined by predatory lending. And in 2010, the Senate strengthened this law again in a bipartisan fashion--completely bipartisan--by giving the CFPB powerful supervision and enforcement authority. Since then, the CFPB has returned $360 million to servicemembers and veterans. They have won major cases for violations of the MLA, and as result, corrected the behavior of many predatory lenders. But Mr. Vought is unilaterally defanging this Agency--taking it apart. Besides removing staff, he has issued guidance stripping the Agency of its authority to supervise nonbank lenders for compliance with the MLA. Who are these nonbank lenders? These are the payday lenders who set up shop outside military bases and target young servicemembers with loans [[Page S2265]] that leave them with huge debts and exorbitant interest payments that can be in some cases in the triple digits. Mr. Vought wants to give these lenders free rein to go after servicemembers to take away their well-earned compensation, and in many cases--I have seen it personally--to put them in a financial spiral that pushes them out of the service and into a very, very difficult and challenging life. Today, this Senate can go on record, as it has in the past, in a very strong bipartisan vote to rescind Mr. Vought's guidance and protect our servicemembers. Now, every one of us goes back home and gets with the veterans groups and says: We owe you more than we can pay you. We respect what you have done. And those servicemen who are serving today in the Persian Gulf, they have to get the support they need, and frankly, they don't get it. It is an easy choice: the troops or Russell Vought's attempt to suppress these troops who are serving us. And I would urge passage of this proposal. I ask for the yeas and nays. Vote on Motion to Proceed The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The question is on agreeing to the motion to proceed. The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk called the roll. The result was announced--yeas 48, nays 52, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 121 Leg.] YEAS--48 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Collins Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--52 Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young The motion was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schmitt). The Senator from Georgia. ____________________ Referenced legislation: SJRES132, SJRES132