To: The Hon. Kathleen Kraninger, Director, Consumer Financial Protection BureauCc: The Hon. Maxine Waters, Chair, House Financial Services CommitteeThe Hon. Patrick McHenry, Ranking Member, House Financial Services CommitteeThe Hon. Mike Crapo, Chair, Senate Banking CommitteeThe Hon. Sherrod Brown, Ranking Member, Senate Banking CommitteeFrom: Richard Cordray, former CFPB directorDiane E. Thompson, former CFPB deputy assistant director of regulationsChristopher Peterson, former special advisor, CFPB and Dept. of Defense

Date: April 6, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic is creating overwhelming needs. First, above all else, are the dire health problems threatening the lives of so many Americans. Second is dealing with the fallout to the economy from the abrupt halt to much business activity throughout the country. But a third crucial need, which follows closely on the heels of the second, is to shield households and families from the direct economic harms they now face....

WASHINGTON — When President Trump signed the $2 trillion economic stabilization package on Friday to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, he undercut a crucial safeguard that Democrats insisted upon as a condition of agreeing to include a $500 billion corporate bailout fund.

In a signing statement released hours after Mr. Trump signed the bill in a televised ceremony in the Oval Office, the president suggested he had the power to decide what information a newly created inspector general intended to monitor the fund could share with Congress.

Under the law, the inspector general, when auditing loans and investments made through the fund, has the power to demand information from the Treasury Department and other executive branch agencies. The law requires reporting to Congress “without delay” if any agency balks and its refusal is unreasonable “in the judgment of the special inspector general.”

Democrats blocked a final agreement on the package this week as they...

Senate Banking Committee ranking member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are introducing legislation to ban bank overdraft fees during the coronavirus pandemic as part of a wider economic stimulus package, Brown’s office told Morning Consult. 

The measure would pause banks’ ability to charge overdraft or non-sufficient fund fees for any transactions, including at ATMs, those involving checks or recurring payments. It would also bar financial institutions from reporting use of overdraft coverage to credit reporting agencies and would allow banks to extend a reasonable overdraft line of credit to consumers who have insufficient funds. 

While the bill is currently backed by no Republicans, the two Democratic senators aim to get it included in the broader economic stimulus measure currently being negotiated in the Senate or another one in the future, according to Brown’s office. 

Efforts to negotiate an economic stimulus...