Majority Press Releases
Brown Statement on VP Joe Biden Elected 46th President of the United States and Sen. Kamala Harris Elected Vice President
CLEVELAND, OH - U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today released a statement following the news that Vice President Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States, and Senator Kamala Harris will make history as the first woman, Black, and Asian American to be elected Vice President:“President-Elect Joe Biden’s story is one of loss, perseverance, and strength. He is a good and wise man, and his election proves that our country is choosing truth, decency, and unity over l… Continue Reading
October 30, 2020
Brown Statement on CFPB Debt Collection Rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement after the CFPB released their final Debt Collection rule: “As working families struggle to pay for food, housing, and other necessities, debt collectors are flooding the courts with collection lawsuits and reporting record profits. The CFPB’s new debt collection rule fails to provide hardworking consumers with the prote… Continue Reading
October 30, 2020
Brown, Merkley, Colleagues Press Nation’s Utility Companies to Cease Utility Shutoffs For the Duration of the COVID-19 Crisis
Washington D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), today led their colleagues in sending letters to the nation’s largest utility companies including Duke Energy, Southern Company, Exelon Corporation, FirstEnergy, American Electric Power, Xcel Energy, Entergy Corporation, Dominion Energy, PPL Corporation, Public Service Enterprise Group, Ameren Corporation, Berkshire Hatha… Continue Reading
October 27, 2020
Brown Blasts OCC For Finalizing The “Rent-a-bank Rule”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement after the Comptroller of the Currency released its new rule: “Let’s be clear - from start to finish, the Trump Administration has been one long con. At a time when too many Americans are facing an economic crisis, our government should be protecting consumers, not putting them even more at risk. Here we are one week out … Continue Reading
October 22, 2020
Brown Statement on Russian and Iranian Interference In U.S. Elections
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement on reports that Russia and Iran again interfered in our elections:“As US intelligence officials again sound the alarm, it should be news to no one that foreign states like Russia are continuing to interfere in our elections -- as they did in 2016 and in 2018. For years, Republicans in the Senate have blocked tougher deterr… Continue Reading
October 22, 2020
Brown Presses CFPB On Preventing Wrongful Foreclosures
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today asked Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger how the CFPB will ensure that mortgage borrowers who face a long-term loss of income as a result of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic do not exit mortgage forbearance into immediate foreclosure. Brown in his letter stressed consumers, who are still reeling from the pu… Continue Reading
October 22, 2020
Brown to CFPB Director: Planned Reorganization of Supervision, Enforcement, And Fair Lending (SEFL) Undermines Consumer Protection
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - is demanding that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger delay implementing a proposed reorganization of the agency’s Division of Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending (SEFL).Brown in his letter made clear that the agency’s move is inappropriate ahead of an election that could determine a future CFPB Director. Brown… Continue Reading
October 22, 2020
Brown, Colleagues to SEC: Withdraw Proposal That Undermines Transparency
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs led a letter with his Senate Democratic colleagues to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Jay Clayton urging the SEC to withdraw the proposed changes that would dramatically increase the Form 13F reporting threshold for institutional investment managers. The lawmakers stressed the proposal would undermine transparency in the U.S. stock market… Continue Reading
October 21, 2020
Brown Takes To The Senate Floor To Call On His Colleagues To Pass Rental Assistance To Provide Relief For Millions Of Renters
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs today continued his push for emergency rental assistance to help the millions of people struggling to pay their rent and at risk of losing their homes. Today’s live unanimous consent requested by Ranking Member Brown includes critical provision that would help the millions of people struggling to pay their rent and at risk of losing their homes.Senator Br… Continue Reading
October 21, 2020
Brown, Senate Democrats Introduce New Legislation to Combat Discrimination in Our Nation’s Financial Services Industry
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced the Fair Access to Financial Services Act, a bill that would prohibit banks and other financial institutions from discrimination in providing goods or services on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin,… Continue Reading
October 19, 2020
Brown Floor Speech: Protect the Community Reinvestment Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - delivered the following floor speech urging his colleagues to protect and strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Brown called on his colleagues to support H.J.Res. 90, which would revoke a Trump OCC rule gutting the CRA, which is a key tool facilitating investments in low- and middle-income communities and communities of color, in the middle of… Continue Reading
October 16, 2020
Sen. Brown Statement on Director Kraninger’s Announced Reorganizations of the CFPB’s Division of Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending
On Wednesday, October 14, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a major reorganization of its Division of Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending (SEFL). The SEFL Division plays a critical role in carrying out the CFPB’s statutory mandate to protecting consumers: it is responsible for bringing public enforcement actions against companies that violate consumer financial law, conducting supervisory examinations of financial institutions to ensure they are comply… Continue Reading
October 15, 2020
Brown Demands Regulators Do More to Protect The American Economy From Further Devastation
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs yesterday sent a letter to the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) urging the agencies to take action now to protect workers and families from even more economic hardship, instead of helping Wall Street. Brown in his letter… Continue Reading
October 5, 2020
Leading Democrats Raise Questions about Trump Administration’s Export of Potential Missile Materials to China
WASHINGTON - A group of leading national security Democrats today are raising an alarm over an approval by the Trump Administration to export over 227 tons of sensitive material critical to building missiles to the People’s Republic of China.In a new letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Senate Foreign Relation Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affair… Continue Reading
October 5, 2020
ICYMI: Brown, Colleagues Criticize Proposed Labor Department Rule Weakening Tool to Advance Financial Interests of Workers and Retirees
Members: “This proposal does the opposite of protecting retirees—it decreases the value of retirement plans’ investments by discouraging fiduciaries from using a key tool to fight for the financial interests of the workers and retirees they serve.”WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (… Continue Reading
September 24, 2020
Brown Statement at Quarterly CARES Act Hearing
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - delivered the following opening statement at today’s hearing entitled ‘The Quarterly CARES Act Report to Congress.’Sen. Brown’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow:Thank you, Chair Crapo. While I’m disappointed this hearing wasn’t held fully remote, I’m glad to see masks in the hearing room. Chair Powell, I also want to thank you for your leadership… Continue Reading
September 23, 2020
Brown Blasts SEC For Moving Forward With Its Anti-Investor Proposal And Undermining The Whistleblower Program
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - today released the following statement after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) moved two final rules forward, one on the whistleblower program, and the other on the shareholder proposal rule: “The SEC’s actions today will undermine efforts to uncover fraud and misconduct and will prevent shareholders from holding corporate management accountable. The rule change… Continue Reading
September 23, 2020
Brown Floor Speech: Detailing How The Trump Administration Has Systematically Undermined Decades Of Fair Housing Progress
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - delivered the following floor speech on a new report that outlines how the Trump Administration has systematically undermined 50 years of fair housing progress. The report which was written by the Banking and Housing Committee minority staff can be found here:Sen. Brown’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow:Mr./Mdme. President, The coronavirus … Continue Reading
September 21, 2020
Brown Releases Civil Rights Report Entitled: Turning Back The Clock: How The Trump Administration Has Undermined 50 Years Of Fair Housing Progress
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs today released a report outlining how the Trump Administration has systematically undermined 50 years of fair housing progress. The report details how the Trump Administration has turned its back on the federal government’s fair housing obligations established in the 1968 Fair Housing Act by turning a blind eye to housing discrimination, rewriting the ru… Continue Reading
September 21, 2020
Brown Commends The Federal Reserve For Its Work to Update the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) - Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - released the following statement after the Federal Reserve moved forward with its process to update the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA): “Today’s announcement from the Federal Reserve marks the start of its process to update the Community Reinvestment Act to ensure that banks are meeting the needs of all communities where they do business. The proposal l… Continue Reading
