I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6972 
To require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to meet its statutory 
purpose, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 
Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California (for herself, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY 
of New York, Mr. CLAY, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Ms. MOORE, and Mr. 
CLEAVER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Edu-
cation and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to 
meet its statutory purpose, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Consumers First Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress. 
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Sec. 3. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 
Sec. 4. Conforming amendments. 
Sec. 5. Executive and administration powers. 
Sec. 6. Offices of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 
Sec. 7. Consumer Advisory Board reforms. 
Sec. 8. Investigation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Oversight 
of Student Lending. 
Sec. 9. Effective date. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 
Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111–203) 
(‘‘Dodd-Frank’’), was signed into law on July 21, 
2010, in order to, among other things, advance the 
goals of protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive 
and abusive financial services practices and products 
that led to the 2008 financial crisis. 
(2) Title X of Dodd-Frank established a new 
Federal independent watchdog, commonly known as 
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (‘‘Con-
sumer Bureau’’), with broad authority to ensure all 
hardworking American consumers are given clear, 
accurate information that they need to shop for 
mortgages, credit cards, and other consumer finan-
cial products or services and to protect consumers 
from hidden fees, abusive terms and other unfair, 
deceptive, or abusive practices through strong en-
forcement of Federal consumer financial laws. 
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(3) Before the Consumer Bureau was estab-
lished, Federal financial regulators were tasked with 
the dual responsibilities of supervising institutions 
for safety and soundness and compliance with con-
sumer protections under Federal consumer financial 
laws. These agencies often prioritized the profit-
ability of their regulated entities over the protection 
of consumers, even when institutions were found to 
have engaged in practices detrimental to their own 
customers’ financial well-being. 
(4) Congress purposefully created the inde-
pendent Consumer Bureau within the Federal Re-
serve System to address past regulatory gaps in our 
country’s financial services regulatory regime, in 
which Federal financial regulators were too reluctant 
to exercise their rulemaking and enforcement au-
thorities to protect consumers from the misdeeds of 
their regulated entities, that resulted in the most se-
vere global financial crisis since the Great Depres-
sion. In doing so, Congress explicitly laid out in stat-
ute the Consumer Bureau’s purpose, five objectives, 
and six primary functions. Specifically: 
(A) Section 1021(a) of Dodd-Frank states 
that the Consumer Bureau, ‘‘shall seek to im-
plement and, where applicable, enforce Federal 
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consumer financial law consistently for the pur-
pose of ensuring that all consumers have access 
to markets for consumer financial products and 
services and that markets for consumer finan-
cial products and services are fair, transparent, 
and competitive’’. 
(B) Section 1021(b) of Dodd-Frank au-
thorizes the Consumer Bureau, ‘‘to exercise its 
authorities under Federal consumer financial 
law for the purposes of ensuring that, with re-
spect to consumer financial products and serv-
ices—(1) consumers are provided with timely 
and understandable information to make re-
sponsible decisions about financial transactions; 
(2) consumers are protected from unfair, decep-
tive, or abusive acts and practices and from dis-
crimination; (3) outdated, unnecessary, or un-
duly burdensome regulations are regularly iden-
tified and addressed in order to reduce unwar-
ranted regulatory burdens; (4) Federal con-
sumer financial law is enforced consistently, 
without regard to the status of a person as a 
depository institution, in order to promote fair 
competition; and (5) markets for consumer fi-
nancial products and services operate trans-
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parently and efficiently to facilitate access and 
innovation.’’. 
(C) Section 1021(c) of Dodd-Frank estab-
lishes the primary functions of the Consumer 
Bureau to be, ‘‘(1) conducting financial edu-
cation programs; (2) collecting, investigating, 
and responding to consumer complaints; (3) col-
lecting, researching, monitoring, and publishing 
information relevant to the functioning of mar-
kets for consumer financial products and serv-
ices to identify risks to consumers and the 
proper functioning of such markets; (4) subject 
to sections 1024 through 1026, supervising cov-
ered persons for compliance with Federal con-
sumer financial law, and taking appropriate en-
forcement action to address violations of Fed-
eral consumer financial law; (5) issuing rules, 
orders, and guidance implementing Federal con-
sumer financial law; and (6) performing such 
support activities as may be necessary or useful 
to facilitate the other functions of the Bu-
reau.’’. 
(5) Under Dodd-Frank, the Deputy Director of 
the Consumer Bureau shall serve as the Acting Di-
rector in the absence or unavailability of the Direc-
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tor, until the President appoints and the Senate con-
firms a new Director. Despite the clear legislative 
history underscoring the importance of having an 
independent Federal agency and the plain letter of 
the law establishing a succession order to fill a va-
cancy in the Director’s position, when the Consumer 
Bureau Director Richard Cordray resigned in No-
vember 2017, President Trump refused to recognize 
the Deputy Director as the rightful head of the 
agency and instead unlawfully installed Mr. Mick 
Mulvaney, the Director of the White House Office of 
Management and Budget, to serve as the Consumer 
Bureau’s Acting Director. This appointment of a 
White House cabinet official to run the Consumer 
Bureau raises profound conflict of interest questions 
and undermines the vital independent nature of the 
agency. 
(6) In addition to the illegality of Mr. 
Mulvaney’s appointment, there is another problem. 
The position of an Acting Director is, by its nature, 
still intended to be a temporary assignment to main-
tain the status quo at an agency, until the President 
appoints and the Senate confirms, a permanent Di-
rector. Nevertheless, Mr. Mulvaney’s temporary sta-
tus leading the agency has been characterized by 
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drastic and severe changes of the Consumer Bu-
reau’s daily operations and priorities. 
(7) The daily operations of a Federal agency 
are guided by its official mission contained in its 
long-term strategic plan. The Consumer Bureau’s 
mission should embrace both the spirit and letter of 
the law, by fully recognizing the agency’s statutory 
purpose, objectives, and functions. It is troubling 
that the Consumer Bureau, under its new Trump 
Administration appointed leadership, issued a Stra-
tegic Plan for Fiscal Year (‘‘FY’’) 2018–FY 2022, 
that appears to deemphasize the core mandate under 
section 1021(a) of Dodd-Frank to, ‘‘enforce Federal 
consumer financial law consistently for the purpose 
of ensuring that all consumers have access to mar-
kets for consumer financial products and services’’, 
by not referencing the importance of enforcement in 
its mission. Instead, it emphasizes financial edu-
cation by stating that the agency’s new mission is 
merely, ‘‘[t]o regulate the offering and provision of 
consumer financial products or services under the 
Federal consumer financial laws and to educate and 
empower consumers to make better informed finan-
cial institutions’’. This is in stark contrast from the 
Consumer Bureau’s Strategic Plan for FY 2013–FY 
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2017, which had an agency’s mission of helping, 
‘‘consumer finance markets work by making rules 
more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing 
those rules, and by empowering consumers to take 
more control over their economic lives’’ (emphasis 
added). 
(8) Mr. Mulvaney has been praised by the 
White House for his efforts to undermine the Con-
sumer Bureau, even with one anonymous advisor ac-
knowledging in a July 24, 2018, Politico article that, 
‘‘His mission was to blow that up, which he has. He 
is very well-suited to the chaos.’’. Mr. Mulvaney’s 
misguided actions have included, among other 
things— 
(A) stopping payments from the Civil Pen-
alty Fund to harmed consumers; 
(B) trying to unjustifiably reduce the Con-
sumer Bureau’s funding by initially requesting 
$0 be transferred from the Federal Reserve 
Board of Governors to carry out the agency’s 
work and by arbitrarily directing staff to cut 
the agency’s budget by one-fifth; 
(C) politicizing the work of the Consumer 
Bureau by making unusual efforts to fill the 
independent agency with political appointees; 
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(D) dropping existing lawsuits and inves-
tigations into abusive payday lenders; 
(E) stripping away the enforcement powers 
of the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Oppor-
tunity; 
(F) changing the role of the Office of Stu-
dents and Young Consumers and, according to 
an August 27, 2018, resignation letter from 
Seth Frotman, the Consumer Bureau’s former 
Assistant Director and Student Loan Ombuds-
man, ‘‘when new evidence came to light showing 
that the nation’s largest banks were ripping off 
students on campuses across the country by 
saddling them with legally dubious account fees, 
Bureau leadership suppressed the publication of 
a report prepared by Bureau staff’’; 
(G) abandoning the accepted and efficient 
practice of having its examiners review, as part 
of their routine examinations, creditors’ compli-
ance with the Military Lending Act in order to 
ensure the detection and assessment of risky 
activities that could jeopardize vital protections 
provided to active-duty servicemembers and 
their families; 
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(H) creating an Office of Cost Benefit 
Analysis that prioritizes businesses’ expenses 
over harm caused to consumers, and unduly 
constrains oversight of the Consumer Bureau’s 
regulated entities; 
(I) freezing data collection to the detriment 
of supervision and enforcement; 
(J) seeking to block the publication of the 
nature of consumers’ complaints and how enti-
ties resolved them in the publicly available and 
transparent Consumer Complaint Database; 
and 
(K) restricting key input and feedback 
from a wide range of external stakeholders by 
effectively terminating members’ positions on 
three advisory boards, including the statutorily 
mandated Consumer Advisory Board. 
(9) The new leadership of the Consumer Bu-
reau’s repeated attempts to hamstring the good 
work and the capacity of dedicated professional, ca-
reer Consumer Bureau staff to hold bad actors ac-
countable for their misdeeds will inevitably harm 
consumers and distort the functioning of fair and 
competitive consumer marketplaces, and nonsen-
sically repeats the mistakes made by the Federal fi-
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nancial regulators that contributed to the global fi-
nancial crisis. 
(10) Despite the fact that the agency has been 
referred to as the Consumer Financial Protection 
Bureau since it opened its doors over seven years 
ago, its new political leadership also opted to change 
the agency’s well-known name. Although this deci-
sion is supposedly intended to ensure that the agen-
cy is in compliance with Dodd-Frank, when this 
change is viewed in conjunction with the other detri-
mental actions to undermine the effectiveness of the 
agency, it can only be interpreted as an attempt to 
reduce the public’s awareness of, and significant 
support for, the agency’s role as the top Federal 
consumer cop as well as to obscure the public’s abil-
ity to identify easily the appropriate Federal agency 
to contact when faced with predatory behavior by fi-
nancial actors. As such, while some may view this 
particular decision as minor, the action serves as an 
important symbolic, and literal, maneuver by the 
Trump Administration, through its unlawful ap-
pointment of Mr. Mulvaney, to diminish and under-
mine the consumer-focused mission of the Consumer 
Bureau. 
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(11) Dodd-Frank gives the Director of the Con-
sumer Bureau broad administrative and executive 
powers to, among other things: fix the number of, 
and appoint and direct, all employees of the agency; 
direct the establishment and maintenance of divi-
sions or other offices within the agency; determine 
the character of, and the necessity for, the obliga-
tions and expenditure of funds; and the use and ex-
penditure of funds. These powers, however, are re-
quired to be exercised in a manner consistent with 
carrying out the responsibilities under Title X of 
Dodd-Frank, which includes complying with the enu-
merated Federal consumer financial laws under the 
Title, and satisfying the obligations in other applica-
ble laws. The new politically controlled leadership’s 
destructive actions have demonstrated the need for 
legislation to reorient the Director’s discretionary 
authority to ensure the maintenance of all statu-
torily mandated policies, functions, and offices of the 
Consumer Bureau regardless of who is leading the 
agency. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—The following is the sense 
of Congress: 
(1) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
should meet its statutory purpose in a transparent 
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and accountable manner by operating in a way that 
is consistent with both the spirit and letter of the 
law, which dictates that the agency’s mission should 
fully reflect the agency’s statutory purpose, objec-
tives, and functions. 
(2) Dodd-Frank underscores that the agency is 
designed to serve as an independent Federal agency 
that is primarily focused on the protection of all con-
sumers, without any undue influence of partisan 
whims and special industry interests, in carrying out 
its responsibilities and duties. 
(3) The official name of the agency should be 
consistent with this mandate and should, figuratively 
and literally, put ‘‘Consumers’’ first by reverting to 
its better-known name as the ‘‘Consumer Financial 
Protection Bureau’’. 
(4) The statute establishing the Consumer Bu-
reau has been grossly misinterpreted under the new 
political leadership, in a manner that is inconsistent 
with the agency’s statutory purpose, objectives, and 
functions, with just one example of which is Mr. 
Mulvaney’s inane suggestion that the statutory re-
quirement for the Director to appear before relevant 
Congressional Committees to discuss its semi-annual 
reports could be interpreted as requiring the Direc-
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tor merely to attend a hearing and not answer ques-
tions, despite the well-established interpretation of 
similar statutory requirement for the Chair of the 
Federal Reserve Board of Governors to appear be-
fore the House Financial Services Committee and 
the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 
Committee on a semi-annual basis about the mone-
tary policy report, as required by the Humphrey- 
Hawkins Full Employment Act. In the face of such 
blatant, and disrespectful, attempts to warp the au-
thorizing and oversight role of the first branch of 
the Federal government—the United States Con-
gress—by the Trump Administration, Congress 
must, in this instance, now refine the Consumer Bu-
reau’s authority to ensure that the vital role that the 
Consumer Bureau should be playing within the 
country’s financial regulatory regime is not effec-
tively destroyed by the agency’s current leadership. 
(5) While the legislation is a direct response to 
address many of the misguided decisions that have 
been orchestrated by the new political leadership at 
the Consumer Bureau that have been exposed to the 
public, as of the date of the bill’s introduction, and 
sharply criticized by numerous Federal and state of-
ficials, including law enforcement, as well as organi-
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zations representing servicemembers, senior citizens, 
and other vulnerable consumer populations, this leg-
islation should not be viewed as an exhaustive list to 
fix all the damaging actions that may have otherwise 
occurred at this agency since the departure of 
former Director Cordray in November 2017, particu-
larly since detailed information revealing the full 
scope, nature, and extent of the current flawed oper-
ation of the agency, and the adverse impact result-
ing from these actions, may not yet be publicly avail-
able. Rather, this legislation should be interpreted as 
an attempt to highlight, and resolve, a small sample 
of some of the publicly known egregious statements, 
decisions, and actions that have occurred during the 
disastrous tenure of the new political leadership at 
the agency. 
SEC. 3. CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1011(a) of the Consumer 
Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5491(a)) is 
amended by striking ‘‘Bureau of Consumer Financial Pro-
tection’’ and inserting ‘‘Consumer Financial Protection 
Bureau’’. 
(b) DEEMING OF NAME.—Any reference in any law, 
regulation, document, record, or other paper of the United 
States to the ‘‘Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’’ 
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(1) The Alternative Mortgage Transaction Par-
ity Act of 1982 (12 U.S.C. 3801 et seq.). 
(2) The Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 
U.S.C. 1601 et seq.). 
(3) The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 
Consumer Protection Act (12 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.). 
(4) The Expedited Funds Availability Act (12 
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.). 
(5) The Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 
U.S.C. 1811 et seq.). 
(6) The Federal Financial Institutions Exam-
ination Council Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3201 et 
seq.). 
(7) The Financial Institutions Reform, Recov-
ery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (12 U.S.C. 1811 
note et seq.). 
(8) The Financial Literacy and Education Im-
provement Act (20 U.S.C. 9701 et seq.). 
(9) The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (12 U.S.C. 
1811 note et seq.). 
(10) The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 
1975 (12 U.S.C. 2801 et seq.). 
(11) The Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 
(12 U.S.C. 4901 et seq.). 
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(12) The Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 
U.S.C. App 2). 
(13) The Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure 
Act (15 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 
(14) The Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 
(Public Law 111–8). 
(15) The Real Estate Settlement Procedures 
Act of 1974 (12 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.). 
(16) Title LXII of the Revised Statutes of the 
United States (12 U.S.C. 21 et seq.). 
(17) The Right to Financial Privacy Act of 
1978 (12 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.). 
(18) The S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 
2008 (12 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.). 
(19) The Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud 
and Abuse Prevention Act (15 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.). 
(20) Title 5, United States Code. 
(21) Title 10, United States Code. 
(22) Title 44, United States Code. 
SEC. 5. EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATION POWERS. 
(a) OFFICE RESPONSIBILITIES.—Section 1012 of the 
Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 
5492) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-
section (d); and 
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(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(c) OFFICE RESPONSIBILITIES.—Notwithstanding 
subsections (a) and (b), section 1013(a), and any other 
provision of law, with respect to the specific functional 
units and offices described under subsections (b), (c), (d), 
(e), (g), and (h) of section 1013 and the advisory boards 
described under section 1014, the Director— 
‘‘(1) shall ensure that such functional units, of-
fices, and boards perform the functions, duties, and 
coordination assigned to them under the applicable 
provision of section 1013 or 1014; and 
‘‘(2) may not reorganize or rename such units, 
offices, and boards in a manner not provided for 
under the applicable provision of section 1013 or 
1014.’’. 
(b) DUTY TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE STAFFING.—Sec-
tion 1013(a)(1) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act 
of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493(a)(1)) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(D) 
DUTY
TO
PROVIDE
ADEQUATE 
STAFFING.—The Director shall ensure that the 
specific functional units and offices described 
under subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (g), and (h) 
of section 1013, as well as other units and of-
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fices with supervisory and enforcement duties, 
are provided with sufficient staff to carry out 
the functions, duties, and coordination of those 
units and offices.’’. 
(c) LIMITATION ON POLITICAL APPOINTEES.—Sec-
tion 1013(a)(1) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act 
of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493(a)(1)) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(D) LIMITATION
ON
POLITICAL
AP-
POINTEES.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In appointing em-
ployees of the Consumer Bureau who are 
political appointees, the Director shall en-
sure that the number and duties of such 
political appointees are as similar as pos-
sible to those of the other Federal primary 
financial regulatory agencies. 
‘‘(ii) 
POLITICAL
APPOINTEES
DE-
FINED.—For purposes of this subpara-
graph, the term ‘political appointee’ means 
an employee who holds— 
‘‘(I) a position which has been 
excepted from the competitive service 
by reason of its confidential, policy-de-
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termining, policy-making, or policy-ad-
vocating character; 
‘‘(II) a position in the Senior Ex-
ecutive Service as a noncareer ap-
pointee (as such term is defined in 
section 3132(a) of title 5, United 
States Code); or 
‘‘(III) a position under the Exec-
utive Schedule (subchapter II of chap-
ter 53 of title 5, United States 
Code).’’. 
(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF COMPLAINT INFORMA-
TION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1013(b)(3) of the 
Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 
U.S.C. 5493(b)(3)) is amended— 
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 
(i) by inserting ‘‘publicly available’’ 
before ‘‘website’’; 
(ii) by inserting ‘‘publicly available’’ 
before ‘‘database’’, each place such term 
appears; and 
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘The Director shall ensure that the 
landing page of the main website of the 
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Consumer Bureau contains a clear and 
conspicuous hyperlink to the consumer 
complaint database described in this sub-
paragraph and shall ensure that such data-
base is user-friendly and in plain writing 
(as such term is defined in the Plain Writ-
ing Act of 2010). The Director shall en-
sure that all information on the website or 
the database that explains how to file a 
complaint with the Consumer Bureau, as 
well as all reports of the Consumer Bureau 
with respect to information contained in 
the database, shall be provided in each of 
the 5 most commonly spoken languages, 
other than English, in the United States, 
as determined by the Bureau of the Census 
on an ongoing basis, and in formats acces-
sible to individuals with hearing or vision 
impairments.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(E) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMA-
TION.— 
‘‘(i) 
IN
GENERAL.—The 
Director 
shall— 
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‘‘(I) make all consumer com-
plaints available to the public on a 
website of the Consumer Bureau; 
‘‘(II) place a clear and con-
spicuous hyperlink on the landing 
page of the main website of the Con-
sumer Bureau to the website de-
scribed under subclause (I); and 
‘‘(III) ensure that such website— 
‘‘(aa) is searchable and sort-
able by both consumer financial 
product or service and by covered 
person; and 
‘‘(bb) is user-friendly and 
written in plain language. 
‘‘(ii) INCLUSION OF COMPLAINTS SUB-
MITTED
WITH
INQUIRIES.—For purposes 
of clause (i), in addition to all complaints 
described under subparagraph (A), con-
sumer complaints shall include any com-
plaints submitted with, or as part of, an 
inquiry described under section 1034. 
‘‘(iii) 
REMOVAL
OF
PERSONALLY 
IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.—In making 
the information described under clause (i) 
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available to the public, the Director shall 
remove all personally identifiable informa-
tion.’’. 
(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The Director of 
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shall en-
sure that the database and website described under 
section 1013(b)(3) of the Consumer Financial Pro-
tection Act of 2010 have, at a minimum, the same 
availability, transparency, and functionality that 
such database and website had prior to November 
24, 2017. 
(e) MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING.— 
(1) REESTABLISHMENT OF MEMORANDA OF UN-
DERSTANDING.—The memoranda of understanding 
between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
and the Department of Education titled ‘‘Memo-
randum of Understanding Between the Bureau of 
Consumer Financial Protection and the U.S. De-
partment of Education Concerning the Sharing of 
Information’’ (October 19, 2011) and ‘‘Memo-
randum of Understanding Concerning Supervisory 
and Oversight Cooperation and Related Information 
Sharing Between the U.S. Department of Education 
and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’’ 
(January 9, 2014)— 
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(A) shall remain in effect and may not be 
terminated by any party to such memorandums; 
and 
(B) may only be amended or revised if the 
parties to the memoranda determine that such 
amendment or revision would promote better 
interagency coordination to the benefit of con-
sumers. 
(2) REPORT
ON
CURRENT
MOUS.—Not later 
than the end of the 30-day period beginning on the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shall issue a 
report to the Committee on Financial Services of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 
listing— 
(A) each memorandum of understanding in 
effect with the Consumer Bureau on November 
24, 2017; 
(B) any changes made to such a memo-
randum of understanding since such date, in-
cluding any memorandum of understanding re-
scinded since such date; and 
(C) a justification for each such change or 
rescission. 
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(3) SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT ON MOUS.—Section 
1016(c) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act 
of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5496(c)) is amended— 
(A) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(B) in paragraph (9), by striking the pe-
riod and inserting a semicolon; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(10) a list of each memorandum of under-
standing in effect with the Consumer Bureau, any 
changes made to a memorandum of understanding 
since the last report was made under subsection (b), 
and a justification for each such change;’’. 
SEC. 6. OFFICES OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTEC-
TION BUREAU. 
(a) CLARIFICATION OF THE DUTIES OF THE OFFICE 
OF FAIR LENDING AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY.—Section 
1013(c)(2) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 
2010 (12 U.S.C. 5493(c)(2)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Office of Fair Lending and 
Equal Opportunity shall have such powers and du-
ties as the Director may delegate to the Office, in-
cluding’’ and inserting ‘‘powers and duties of the Of-
fice of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity shall in-
clude’’; 
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(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(3) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period 
and inserting a semicolon; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(E) implementing the Consumer Bureau’s 
enforcement and supervisory authority with re-
spect to fair lending laws; and 
‘‘(F) such additional powers and duties as 
the Director may determine appropriate.’’. 
(b) OFFICE
OF
STUDENTS
AND
YOUNG
CON-
SUMERS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1013 of the Con-
sumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 
5493) is amended— 
(A) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub-
section (i); and 
(B) by inserting after subsection (g) the 
following: 
‘‘(h) OFFICE
OF STUDENTS
AND YOUNG CON-
SUMERS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Director shall, not 
later than the end of the 60-day period beginning on 
the date of enactment of this section, establish an 
Office of Students and Young Consumers, which 
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shall work to empower students, young people, and 
their families to make more informed financial deci-
sions about saving and paying for college, accessing 
safer and more affordable financial products and 
services, all matters related to private education 
loans (as defined under section 1035(e)), and repay-
ing student loan debt, including private education 
loans. 
‘‘(2) HEAD OF THE OFFICE.—The head of the 
Office of Students and Young Consumers shall be 
the Assistant Director and Student Loan Ombuds-
man, and the Assistant Director and Student Loan 
Ombudsman shall carry out all functions established 
under section 1035 through the Office of Students 
and Young Consumers. 
‘‘(3) SUPERVISORY, ENFORCEMENT, AND REGU-
LATORY
MATTERS.—The Office of Students and 
Young Consumers shall assist in all supervisory, en-
forcement, and regulatory matters of the Consumer 
Bureau related to the functions of the Office. 
‘‘(4) COORDINATION.—The Director shall enter 
into memoranda of understanding and similar agree-
ments with the Department of Education and other 
Federal and State agencies, as appropriate, in order 
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to carry out the business of the Office of Students 
and Young Consumers.’’. 
(2) RENAMING AND APPOINTMENT CLARIFICA-
TION OF THE PRIVATE EDUCATION LOAN OMBUDS-
MAN.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Section 1035 of the 
Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 
U.S.C. 5535) is amended— 
(i) in the heading of the section by 
striking ‘‘PRIVATE EDUCATION’’ and in-
serting ‘‘ASSISTANT
DIRECTOR
AND 
STUDENT’’; and 
(ii) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘The 
Secretary, in consultation with the Direc-
tor, shall designate a Private Education 
Loan Ombudsman’’ and inserting ‘‘The 
Director shall designate an individual as 
the Assistant Director and Student Loan 
Ombudsman’’; 
(iii) in subsection (b), by striking 
‘‘The Secretary and the Director’’ and in-
serting ‘‘The Director’’; and 
(iv) in subsection (d)(2), by inserting 
‘‘the Director,’’ before ‘‘the Secretary,’’. 
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(B) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of 
contents under section 1(b) of the Dodd-Frank 
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection 
Act is amended, in the item relating to section 
1035, by striking ‘‘PRIVATE EDUCATION’’ 
and inserting ‘‘ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND 
STUDENT’’. 
(C) DEEMING OF NAME.—Any reference in 
any law, regulation, document, record, or other 
paper of the United States to the ‘‘Private Edu-
cation Loan Ombudsman’’ shall be deemed a 
reference to the ‘‘Assistant Director and Stu-
dent Loan Ombudsman’’. 
(c) SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON CER-
TAIN OFFICES
OF
THE CONSUMER BUREAU.—Section 
1016(c) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 
(12 U.S.C. 5496(c)), as amended by section 5(e)(3), is 
further amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(11) with respect to each of the specific func-
tional units and offices established under section 
1013— 
‘‘(A) a detailed description of the activities 
of the unit or office since the last report was 
made under subsection (b); and 
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‘‘(B) an analysis of the efforts of the Con-
sumer Bureau to achieve the duties of the unit 
or office; and 
‘‘(12) with respect to each specific functional 
units and offices established under section 1013, as 
well as each other unit and office with supervisory 
and enforcement duties, a break down of the number 
of political and professional career staff assigned to 
and employed by each unit or office at the end of 
the reporting period.’’. 
(d) FUNCTION OF ANY UNIT OR OFFICE ESTAB-
LISHED TO CONDUCT COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS.—Any 
unit or office established to conduct cost benefit analysis 
within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shall, 
as its sole function, carry out the considerations required 
by section 1022(b)(2)(A) of the Consumer Financial Pro-
tection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5512(b)(2)(A)). 
SEC. 7. CONSUMER ADVISORY BOARD REFORMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1014 of the Consumer Fi-
nancial Protection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5496) is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 
following: ‘‘Any change to the charter for the Con-
sumer Advisory Board affecting the membership 
shall not preclude prior or current members from 
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applying for consideration to serve on a reconsti-
tuted Consumer Advisory Board.’’; and 
(2) in subsection (c)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘meet from’’ and inserting 
‘‘meet in person from’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘The Consumer Bureau shall provide adequate 
notice to the members of the Consumer Advi-
sory Board of the time and date of each meet-
ing, and of any meeting cancellations.’’ 
(b) INCLUSION OF THE DIRECTOR IN MEETINGS AND 
ACCESS TO CONSUMER BUREAU STAFF.—Section 1014 of 
the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (12 
U.S.C. 5496) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(e) INCLUSION OF THE DIRECTOR IN MEETINGS 
AND ACCESS TO CONSUMER BUREAU STAFF.—With re-
spect to each in person meeting of the Consumer Advisory 
Board— 
‘‘(1) the Director shall attend such meeting; 
and 
‘‘(2) the Director shall ensure that the members 
of the Consumer Advisory Board have an oppor-
tunity to meet and engage with all appropriate staff 
and office of the Consumer Bureau.’’. 
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(c) TREATMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE CONSUMER 
ADVISORY BOARD.—Notwithstanding any other law— 
(1) any member of the Consumer Advisory 
Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
on November 1, 2017, may continue to serve as a 
member of such advisory board until March 27, 
2020, and may not be removed from such position 
by the Director of the Consumer Bureau until such 
date; and 
(2) any member of the Consumer Advisory 
Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
on the date of enactment of this Act, may continue 
to serve as a member of such advisory board until 
March 27, 2020, and may not be removed from such 
position by the Director of the Consumer Bureau 
until such date. 
SEC. 8. INVESTIGATION OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL 
PROTECTION BUREAU’S OVERSIGHT OF STU-
DENT LENDING. 
Not later than the end of the 30-day period beginning 
on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of 
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shall provide 
the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs of the Senate with all relevant final docu-
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ments, draft documents, emails, and other records related 
to the allegations made by Assistant Director and Student 
Loan Ombudsman Seth Frotman in his resignation letter 
on August 27, 2018, including whether the political lead-
ership of the Consumer Bureau suppressed a broader and 
more informative version of the ‘‘Campus Banking Re-
port’’ publication. 
SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 
take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, except 
that the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection 
Bureau shall have 30 days to complete any operational 
changes to the Consumer Bureau required by this Act or 
an amendment made by this Act. 
Æ 
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