Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller joined his counterparts from Illinois and Connecticut in a conference call Tuesday with the media to push for the U.S. Senate to pass a law creating the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The legislation passed the U.S. House in December, and Miller says they see a key is that whatever passes does not take away power from states.
Miller says the current legislation allows the states to enforce whatever new regulations come out, and he says that is absolutely necessary as the federal officials don’t have the resources to enforce everything and they need to have a partnership with the states. Miller says “big banks” are against the new agency saying, it will create a confusing patch-work of regulation. But he says that’s not true.
“What’s outlined in this bill would be a rich and effective partnership of the best ideas and the best efforts of the states and fed in protecting the public in a way they really haven’t been protected before in financial product,” Miller says. Miller was asked if there are any Republican attorney generals that support the legislation.
Miller says Mark Bennett of Hawaii is in favor of the agency, but he does not know of any others on the Republican side that have come out in favor of the agency. But Miller says when it comes to the issue of state’s not being pre-empted and being able to enforce federal rules, an overwhelming number of Attorney’s General support that idea. Miller says the new agency could police many of the issues in lending that lead to the near collapse of the U.S. financial market.