the cfpb or otherwise. consolidating this financial information one place the cfpb has left consumers extremely vulnerable to hackers and identity theft. those are the lead threats from outside the bureau. of course in the cfpb data collection poses significant threats to our fourth amendment protections which apply to everybody. bo a checking account may well record the citizens activities opinions believes as fully as the transcript records. credit cards are today's checks. such current concerns are not reflections of the watergate era. as recently as 2012 justice sotomayor correctly observed quote awareness of the government may be watched associational and expressive freedoms. governments unrestrained power to assemble data that reveals private aspects is susceptible to abuse. justice sotomayor's words not mine. medications purchased on line by retailers such a purchase could theoretically identify data collections. for a variety of reasons is i think this hearing is demonstrated across have the cfpb ha

the cfpb or otherwise. consolidating this financial information one place the cfpb has left consumers extremely vulnerable to hackers and identity theft. those are the lead threats from outside the bureau. of course in the cfpb data collection poses significant threats to our fourth amendment protections which apply to everybody. bo a checking account may well record the citizens activities opinions believes as fully as the transcript records. credit cards are today's checks. such current concerns are not reflections of the watergate era. as recently as 2012 justice sotomayor correctly observed quote awareness of the government may be watched associational and expressive freedoms. governments unrestrained power to assemble data that reveals private aspects is susceptible to abuse. justice sotomayor's words not mine. medications purchased on line by retailers such a purchase could theoretically identify data collections. for a variety of reasons is i think this hearing is demonstrated across have the cfpb ha

it was not a sweeping 170 million loan records that are now in the hands of the cfpb. in my district in arkansas taken up by 70 cases of fire resident a theft that is all we talk about in my office. i have concerns about that. and to be here in their reenforce is why i ran for congress in mind the people of arkansas elected me because once again i feel like the chief apologist for the intrusive big brother big government solution. we have had hearings in this room on the target breach, retailers and bankers testify about blood reaches end bills moving in the energy and commerce committee settled make the assumption. >> and those are good efforts and the committee is making a fax with a loss to journal was quite clear in the native back to read and that has gone in the world record in the most recent effort. to understand the of market that it regulates. for the individual firms to deal with the market's to collect 87% of the credit-card market. 95% of all credit card accounts. is there any justification which you can just do a survey for a small sample for any analysis

the cfpb issued guidance in 2013 to restrict that, a bill to block the cfpb's guidance passed the house last month. not just with republicans on board, 88 democrats supported it too. the white house is against it. another provision being considered would curtail the cfpb's ability to restrict predatory lending. making sure borrowers have the ability to pay back their loans. >> we don't mind seeing people make a profit. if you're making that profit by trapping hardworking americans into a vicious cycle of debt, you got to find a new business model. you got to find a new way of doing business. >> reporter: such changes could chip away at the cfpb's mission. but they might be narrow enough for the white house to swallow to get a braider spending deal. and adam, whether or not americans are successful, you can bet they will keep trying because they control both the house and senate, so they see some windows of opportunity. adam. >> yes, the consumer bureau definitely a lightning rod for controversy. libby, some more examples of the work that they do? >> reporter: the agency is boanl four an

from january 2012 to july of 2014 the cfpb carried out 12 large-scale data collections including the monthly collection of data affecting hundreds of millions of credit card accounts, 173 million mortgages as well as information on 10.7 million consumer credit reports. five of these data collections are ongoing. not a day goes by that americans are not made aware of yet another breach of their sensitive information whether it's in the public or private sector vast collections of personal consumer data are prime targets for cyber attackers. aside from the fact that cfpb does not need to be collecting information to carry out its tributary mission it's troubling is not taken more perfect steps to secure this data. in fact before this committee last year cfpb director cordray said he could row of the potential for data breach at the bureau. we now know and the american people don't know how much personal identifiable information or pii they retain. how that is protected with the bureau plans to do with all that data. will the cpb claims it collects very little data that contains pii col

he calls the cfpb an unaccountable agency that is hurting the economy.n secrets reports that as of september his campaign had received this election cycle more than $150,000 from commercial banks, and he is supported by the insurance industry, securities and investment firms, other financial sectors and real estate companies. he has major support from companies like jpmorgan chase, and new york city democrat has been a defender of the payday loan industry. contributions to his campaign this cyclen collude nearly $50,000 from the security and investment field. meeks gets major support from nasdaq members and goldman sachs. wall street has powerful friends on capitol hill. libby casey, al jazeera, washington. >>> for the first time in more than a year, we're hearing from army sergeant bo bergdahl. he is speaking about his capture by the taliban and the controversial prisoner exchange that set him free. john terrett has the details. >> reporter: bowe bergdahl recounting his captivity for the first time since being released by the tral ban. >> how do i expla

democrats and republicans have such different opinions over hard issues like the cfpb that it will be a tough week. john. >> all right. libby thing you. alexis goldstein is a senior policy analyst. she formally worked for morgan stanley, but left to join the occupy wall street movement. what do you think this burrow does in >> this is a bureau that in its short life has already returned over $11.2 billion to over 25 million americans who have been scammed by their financial companies. and they are really the only federal regulator that is tasked with protecting consulars from financial abuse. >> why do they need protecting? >> they need protecting because people are being charged up to 300% apr with predator payday loans, they are being discriminated against at auto dealers. and quite frankly sometimes they are given add-on products on their credit cards that they don't even ask for. so part of that money that has been returned to people is because they are being charged for products they never asked for. >> how determined with republicans to eliminating or reducing this bureau, and d

of cfpb.in this administration the power of fantasy of the national security council of interfering into the minutia and the daily work of other government agencies including the state department is really probably at a historic high looking back in history. >> host: can you give us an example of how that could reseen on the ground level? >> guest: that's probably a better question for the people with that knowledge to answer that but there was a lot of micromanaging in the last few months on the white house including flaky things like maybe we should have another name or another label for or something like that as if that would be the issue. so there is joseph micromanaging from nfc and the state department and other parts of u.s. government notches one operation. >> host: let's go to maryland on our line firm republicans. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. you seem extremely knowledgeable about the subject to speak. you have several dialects so i think you would x&o stan was going on i

cordray, the cfpb's core mission is protection may not seem link to systemic risk. however, i don't think that is the case. can you elaborate on what role consumer financial protection plays in the stability of our economy and how your agencies work helps inform fsoc? >> congresswoman, first of all, congress set the structure of the council and determined which agencies should be represented there. and it's a broad cross-section of the federal financial regulators. in the case of the consumer bureau in particular, it's worthy of note that the financial crisis that gave rise to the council was caused. everybody agrees. people disagree somewhat as to the chain of events that led to this. but a meltdown in the housing and mortgage markets that transmitted through various channels through the economy and threatened the stability of the financial system, greatly threatened it. the very first issue that was raised at the first meeting, which is before i joined the fsoc. i was not yet the director of the consumer bureau, was mortgage servicing and foreclosures. and there w

and the cfpb. and the alphabet soup of federal agencies, the descendent like locusts on small businesses, killing jobs all across this country. you know, a few years back, i was out in west texas, and i asked folks they are, what is the difference between regulators and locusts? i said, well, the thing is, you can't use pesticide on the regulators. and this old west texas farmer, he leaned back and said "wanna bet?" [cheers and applause] sen. cruz: and in the days that followed, i will go to congress, and we will pass fundamental tax reform, we will pass as simple flat tax. so every american can fill out your taxes on a postcard. and when we do that, we should abolish the irs. [cheers and applause] sen. cruz: there are about 90,000 employees at the irs. we need to padlock that building, take all 90,000, and put them on our southern border. now, to our friends in the media, i see that somewhat tongue in cheek. but if you think about it, imagine you traveled thousands of miles in the blazing sun. you

and i would include the fed, the fdic, and the cfpb. it's really a regulatory imperative to make sure we're working together. >> you haven't answered -- you're trying to eat up time here. you have not answered one specific way in which you've used your regulatory flexibility. could you give me one way? that's all i'm asking. >> as you know, congressman, one of the consequences is your requirement of submitting a resolution plan. we certainly for -- >> the tailored plan is the only true answer. and how that cuts a little cost. they still have to do the c-car stress test, the regular stress test. there are way too many things built in that you have the power to fix. and i wish you'd take a look at it. i didn't even get to non-bank financial entities, and my time has expired. please look at those things. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> the time of the gentleman has expired. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. green. ranking member of the oversight subcommittee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank the ranking me

cfpb investigation. they've got a lot of things going on here. i want to tell you a quick story.ars ago when i was with cnbc full-time, i interviewed kevin on cnbc, and when the interview was over, we could still hear what the cameraman was saying in indianapolis. cameraman said, hey, how did that go. kevin said, well, i got what i wanted. he didn't get what he wanted. well, there's such a thing as karma, and in that case you could spin these things as much as you want, and, by the way, in the end he didn't quite get what he wanted either. >> all right, herb. on a roll. i do want to go back to the winners because reid hastings of netflix, jeff bezos of amazon. they happen to be the two best performing stocks in the s&p. that's not necessarily why you put them on the list. you are talking a lot about execution. >> it's about execution. i actually -- reid hastings was on my worst list a number of years ago, and that was because of that horrible misstep they made when they were transitioning from dvr to streaming. look, it's been in my crosshairs for a long time because the stock --

the cfpb without adequate justification of need now wants personal information, including business or commercial information, property values, property addresses, credit scores and interest rates. this appears to be a government agency phishing expedition which should raise serious concerns regarding our personal privacy and liberty. this significantly higher regulatory hurdle means community financial institutions will have to allocate more of their limited resources to deal with washington's red tape rather than providing loans to businesses and families in minnesota. it is my hope that cfpb will exempt small community financial institutions from this new burden or we will have to draft legislation to help our small community banks in minnesota. because as i often say, mr. speaker, what is good for minnesota is good for america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. green, for five minutes. thank you, mr. speaker. , and aker, i rise today i stand in the well of the house as a proud american. i love my country, mr. speaker, and beca

commission doesn't have jurisdiction over carriers for that purpose, for example, and i don't believe the cfpboes either. the states -- because of the strength of the federal communications act, i don't think the states have authority to do all of this work. if you wanted to do that, i think it would be up to congress to instruct the federal communications commission, giving them some additional authority to play in that realm or to extend the reach if you felt it was important to extend the reach to persons who do not use financial institutions and access devices to accounts, either credit cards or debit cards, to have comparable protections. i haven't thought about exactly what those would look like, but i think it's an extremely interesting topic. >> all right. i have just a little time. with so many vendors and third parties involved in some of the mobile payment transactions i was concerned that consumers could be given the run-around, each vendor pointing the finger at another. you want to comment on that? we only have a little bit of time. >> i think that the consumers may go to vendors

cordray at the consumer financial protection bureau because what we have done is joined forces with the cfpbto launch a new initiative boying financial coach to go in veterans. so we will better serve vets by providing them with a credentialed financial coach who has an understanding of the veterans community, military families and the challenges they face. these professionals will provide one-on-one free coaching to help them craft a personalized plan for financial success. because that is critically important. how to manage your money. and so we're making these one stop centers truly one stop centers for all of the needs that veterans confront. and so that is what we're doing. and i want to say in closing, i want to say thank you. because we all play different instruments and president and mrs. bush are playing a remarkably important instrument in the front of the orchestra. the business community -- i'm a trial lawy tri trial lawyer, so i drift. just want to warn you. the business community is playing a critical role because you keep employing folks. now we're moving in to sector-based pa

cordray at the consumer financial protection bureau because what we've done is joined forces with the cfpblaunch a new initiative providing financial coaching to veterans. as 35 american job centers that nationwide, we will better serve god by providing them with a credential financial coaching has an understanding of the veterans community, military families and the challenges they face. these professionals provide one-on-one coaching to help them craft a personalized plan for financial success because that is critically important how to manage her money. we are making the centers truly one-stop centers for all of the deeds veterans confront. that is what we are doing. i want to say in closing, i want to say thank you. we all play different instrument president and mrs. bush played a remarkably interesting event or the business community, i am a trial lawyer, so i drift. the business community is playing a critical role because you keep employing folks. now we are moving into effect are based partnerships or the entire construction industry is supposed to simply one or two companies have

cordray, the cfpb's core mission is consumer protection, which may not seem link to systemic risk.however, i don't think that is the case. can you elaborate on what role consumer financial protection plays in the stability of our economy and how your agency's work helps inform fsoc? >> thank you, congresswoman. first of all, congress set the structure of the council. and determined which agencies should be represented there. and it is a broad cross section of the federal financial regulators. in the case of the consumer bureau in particular, it is worthy of note that the financial crisis that gave rise to the council was caused, everybody agrees, people disagree somewhat as to the chain of events that led to this, but a meltdown in the housing and mortgage markets that transmitted through various channels through the economy and threatened the stability of the financial system, gravely threatened it. the very first issue that was raised at the first meeting, which is before i joined the fsoc. i was not yet the director of the consumer bureau, was mortgage servicing and foreclosures

and i would include the fed, the fdic, and the cfpb.t's really a regulatory imperative to make sure we're working together. and not -- >> you haven't answered -- you're trying to eat up time here it sounds like. you have not answered one specific way in which you've used your regulatory flexibility. ould you give me one specific way? one way. that's all i'm asking. >> as you know, congressman, one of the consequences is your requirement of submitting a resolution plan. we certainly for the smaller institutions -- >> the tailored plan is the only true answer. and how that cuts a little cost. they still have to do the c-car stress test, the regular stress test. there are way too many things built in that withdrew have the power to fix and i wish you'd take a look at it. i didn't even get to non-bank financial entities, and my time has expired. please look at those things. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> time of the gentleman has expired. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. green. ranking member of our oversigh

warren: the cfpb works. already that agency has been up and operational for just a little over four years and it has forced the biggest financial institutions in this country return with $11 billion directly to families they cheated. it has handled more than 750,000 complaints against big financial institutions, against payday lenders, against college loan services that are cheating people, that are tricking people. and so what is the response? while it's helping the american people, it's costing a handful of the biggest financial institutions in this country real money, and they're trying to find a way to make sure that the consumer agency doesn't do its job. they want to find a way to weaken that agency, to tie that agency down, to keep that agency from leveling the playing field for american families. mr. merkley: each time you and i have talked about this, the number increases. i will say something like the cfpb has returned $3 billion, and you'll say, senator, it's now $5 billion. and when i say it's $5

[applause] and the cfpb and the alphabet soup of federal agencies that descended like locusts on businessescountry. [applause] you know a few years back i was out in west texas and i asked folks there, i said what's the difference between regulators and locusts? i said well the thing is you can't use pesticides on the regulators. and this old west texas farmer leaned back and said juan to that? [laughter] we will pass a simple flat tax. [applause] so that every american that fills the air taxes will -- [applause] and when we do that, we should abolish the irs. [applause] there are about 90,000 employees at the irs. we need to padlock that building , take all 90,000 and put them down on our southern border. now to our friends in the media and i say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek. but if you think about it i imagine you travel thousands of times. you are swimming across the rio grande and the first thing you see is 90,000 irs agents. you would turn around and go home too. [applause] some of you all may be thinking, all of this makes sense to me. basic common sense, live within your means, don'

commission doesn't have jurisdiction over carriers for that purpose, for example, that i don't believe the cfpbther. the states, because of the strength of the federal communications act, i don't think the states have authority to do all of this work. if you wanted to do that i think would be up to congress to instruct the federal communications commission, giving them some additional authority to point in that realm or to extend the reach, if you felt it was important, to extend the reach to persons who do not use financial institutions and access devices to accounts, either credit cards over the cards, to have comparable protections. i haven't thought about exactly what those would look like, but i think it's an extremely interesting topic. >> i have just a little time. with so many vendors and third parties involved in some of the mobile payment transactions, i was concerned consumers could be given the runaround. do want to comment on that? we only have a look at a time. >> i think that consumers may go to vendors for the purpose but i think consumers largely go to their financial service p