skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Warren to Help Build New Financial Protection Agency

play audio
Play

Tuesday, September 21, 2010   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - She dreamed up the agency; now she'll help build it. Harvard law professor and consumer defender Elizabeth Warren has been appointed by President Obama to an advisory post in the Treasury Department, where she'll help set up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This will allow her to bypass what some predict would be a risky and lengthy Senate nomination process.

Lauren Saunders, managing attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, says she's "thrilled" by the prospect of having Warren in effective charge of that agency.

"She, for years, has been sounding the alarm about how American families have been let down by the tricks and the traps out there in the marketplace."

Some of West Virginia's elderly have been hurt by home refinance deals with high fees and interest rates. Warren has focused attention on loans like those in the past.

Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, says there's "no-one better" to run the new agency, although he admits that, in a perfect world, he would have liked to have seen her nominated and approved by the Senate.

"Because the banking industry is so fiercely opposed to her - because she's demonstrated a willingness to stand up for consumers - it would be an all-out war in the Senate because all the moneyed interests would be opposed to her."

Warren has written several books on how debt, predatory lending and bankruptcy affect average Americans.

Lauren Saunders says Warren is the right person at the right time to implement her original vision.

"We've seen the failures of the government to protect consumers and it's wrecked our entire economy."

Since 1995, Warren has taught courses on bankruptcy and contract law at Harvard.

A representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness calls Warren's appointment a maneuver that goes against the pledge of transparency that the new agency is supposed to represent.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021