WASHINGTON, DC - Today, after the Trump Administration released a report that attempts to undermine support for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rule that frees consumers from forced arbitration clauses in financial contracts, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a senior member of the Banking Committee, issued the following statement:

“The Trump Administration wants to make it harder for consumers and families who are harmed by abusive business practices to hold companies like Equifax and Wells Fargo accountable.

“This report is part of a coordinated effort by the most powerful financial interests and their allies in the Trump Administration to obscure the plain and commonsense fact that forced arbitration is anti-consumer, anti-servicemember, and against our constitutional system of open access to a free and fair justice system.

“At a time when millions of Americans are suffering the consequences of abusive practices by major financial institutions, it is wrong to take away citizens’ power to have their day in court.  If Republicans overturn the CFPB’s rule, it will open up the door for more corporate wrongdoing and hardworking Americans will have fewer rights and alternatives to stop it.”