'I Kind Of Wish You'd Stayed Because You'd Be The First One To Get Fired': Norman Pans Dem's Witness

2 days ago

During a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) tore into the former General Counsel for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Seth Frotman, and questioned other witnesses about the agency's impact on small businesses.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:01You know, I think it's, and thank all of you for taking the time to come.

00:05I'm a businessman.

00:06I'm a real estate developer.

00:08Mr. Frotman, your comments are outrageous, to be honest with you.

00:15You're talking the Democrat points.

00:17I'm glad you're bringing up Elon Musk.

00:19The American people owe a debt of gratitude to a man that's showing where tax money is

00:23going.

00:24They don't agree with it.

00:2627 million people do not agree with the former president.

00:31And in your, you resigned twice under Trump.

00:36You resigned most recently in February of 2025.

00:40I kind of wish you'd stay because you'd be the first one to get fired.

00:43And let me just say this.

00:44The fact that Congressman, the fact that you're on the student loan, you formed the Student

00:49Protection, Borough Protection Center.

00:53You took part in the Biden administration's.

00:56of loans.

00:57The people that you talk about, the veterans and the poor families, their tax dollars meant

01:02to pay student loans that they were forced to pay.

01:06And now, I think what is what is appalling is the richest man in America telling dedicated

01:12public servants who want to protect service members and students.

01:16Do you not have any decency?

01:18Do you not have any?

01:19This isn't your, this isn't your platform.

01:22I've got three minutes left.

01:24I'm going to ask it to some sane people over here.

01:27So, but the fact that you took money, took part in paying off loans that the taxpayers

01:33had no say so in is unbelievable.

01:36Ms. Coon, one of Dr. Chopra's midnight rulemaking moves before he left was remove medical debt

01:44information from the Consumer Report and prohibits lenders from examining the credit history

01:53of a borrower.

01:55We've got a bill up that we're trying to get out of committee.

01:58But do you think the CFPB even has the authority under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require

02:06the removal of a debt that they owe?

02:12And the payment of it, I think, is an important part of a credit report.

02:17Why is it being removed?

02:18And does CFPB have that right to do?

02:25I do not believe they have that right.

02:27The Fair Credit Reporting Act actually addresses medical debt, and it protects consumers' privacy

02:34with respect to their medical information.

02:37It allows financial institutions to use the financial aspect.

02:42Does a consumer have significant medical debt?

02:45And consider that in connection with making a loan or a larger mortgage transaction, for

02:50example.

02:52The rule ignores the restrictions and requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

02:59It ignores data that had been supplied.

03:02It relies on 10-year-old studies that really have no bearing on what today's market looks

03:09like.

03:10And by the time those studies were conducted by the CFPB to the issuance of the rule, the

03:17market had changed.

03:18It had already made significant changes.

03:20And so it's based on faulty premise.

03:23So it's got a terribly weak record associated with it.

03:27And even the Small Business Administration filed comments raising concerns about the

03:31process that led to the rule.

03:33So I agree that I do not believe they have the authority.

03:38And even under the Administrative Procedures Act, they don't have the record that supports

03:44the steps that they took.

03:46That's the audacity of Mr. Chopra and his disdain for the American people.

03:54And if you're going to exclude medical debt, what about paying your credit card off?

04:01What about paying your loan on your house off?

04:03Why not exclude that?

04:05Why not just exclude everything?

04:07So you really, in student loan repayments, what's left that was so much advocated by

04:15Mr. Frotman to give away from or to force the American people to pay for, what about

04:19excluding that?

04:22And that's one of the concerns about the approach that the CFPB took in the medical debt rule.

04:28What's the next thing that's not popular that they want to take out of the financial system

04:33to hide or mask information?

04:36The legal theory that they used to support the actions they took in the rule would support

04:41them, you know, basically anything they're not happy with, small dollar or student loans

04:46or things like that.

04:48It's my view that that's the role of Congress to make those decisions.

04:51The Fair Credit Reporting Act has a whole section where Congress has decided what's

04:56fair to include and what's not, and they ignore that entirely in the rule.

05:00Okay.

05:01Thank you so much.

05:02Since time has expired, the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

'I Kind Of Wish You'd Stayed Because You'd Be The First One To Get Fired': Norman Pans Dem's Witness

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