Senators Reed was joined by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and a number of Senate Democrats in calling for additional tools to better protect members of the military and their families from abusive financial practices. The group also discussed their new Military Consumer Protection Act legislation.
The Military Consumer Protection Act, introduced in the Senate by Reed and Schumer and in the House by Rep. Duckworth, would empower the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to oversee and enforce compliance with certain existing provisions of the Service Member Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which was designed to ease financial burdens on service members during periods of military service. Despite these SCRA protections, which Congress enacted to enable service members to “devote their entire energy to the defense needs of the Nation,” enforcement of this critical law has been found to be inconsistent and subject to the discretion of financial regulators.
The Military Consumer Protection Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Mark Warner (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Al Franken (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and supported by a range of organizations representing the interests of service members and their families, including: the Consumer Federation of America; the National Guard Association of the United States; the National Association of Consumer Advocates; the National Military Family Association; the Military Officers Association of America; and U.S. PIRG.
