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WASHINGTON D.C. — This week, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) offered the Republican Motion to Recommit H.R. 3621, the Student Borrower Credit Improvement Act. The Motion to Recommit included an amendment that prevented the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from penalizing consumers based on their political opinions, religious expression, or other First Amendment Rights. 

Watch Congressman Hill’s remarks HERE or by clicking on the image below.


Congressman Hill's floor speech is copied below.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Let me start by saying the spirit of this bill is noble. Finding ways to ensure that all Americans, no matter of race, creed, color, or zip code have access to affordable credit is a noble pursuit. It’s a top priority of the House Financial Services Committee. 

In fact, Madam Speaker, it’s a personal priority. I’ve introduced H.R. 4231 that has bipartisan and bicameral support, that facilitates the use of additional data from rental, utility, and telecom payments to help more Americans repair and build their credit score. Thousands more would qualify and have better access to credit.
The reality is while this is an issue that faces all Americans, it’s communities of color that overwhelmingly face the greatest obstacles when it comes to obtaining access to affordable credit.

Legislating is difficult. It requires good faith negotiation, compromise, and a willingness to take a small deal of political risk that occasionally makes our political lives a little more complicated.

Messaging, Madam Speaker, on the other hand, is easy. It only requires the inherent power of the majority. There was a bipartisan path that could have been taken. But today, House Democrats chose to detour down the messaging-only path.

With the vote today, the majority is sadly seeking to socialize credit, consumer credit ratings, and credit risk. This will jeopardize access to credit for millions of low-income and moderate-income families. This legislation will inhibit lenders’ ability to get the full picture of a consumer’s financial health, making risk more difficult to assess. This ultimately increases the cost and decreases the availability for our consumers.

The good news is, Madam Speaker, that Republicans will stand united in opposition to a government takeover of our credit bureaus. Today, the majority in congress seeks to socialize our credit system by having credit scoring and credit scoring models taken over by the government. Specifically, the unaccountable Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

However, I hope that we can all come together on one major principle. My amendment will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. It will ensure we do not allow federal agencies to pick winners and losers based on political, religious, or other beliefs protected by our constitution. Specifically, my friends, we need to ensure that the CFPB does not exploit this newfound power and punish Americans based on their heartfelt First Amendment rights.

Simply put, my motion to recommit will prohibit the CFPB from requiring credit scoring models from using information relating to Americans’ political opinions, their religious beliefs and other expressions protected by the First Amendment.

Let's make certain, my friends, that the United States government doesn't use the tactics now made so popular in Beijing.

In China, Madam Speaker, agencies are collecting enormous amounts of data related to individual financing, social media accounts, health records, facial recognition. In China, my friends, now we have the "social score." It permits rewards and punishments based on each individual's "social score." For example, if you have a higher "social score" you might get a discount on your monthly energy bill. If you have a lower score, you might not be able to get on that train or airplane. According to the Chinese government, all "social scores" for 1.3 billion Chinese will be made publicly available this year.

American ideals go against everything the "social credit system" represents. Supporting this MTR would ensure what is happening in China would never happen in our country. The CFPB has too much power and we should make sure that Americans do not lose access to credit based on the decisions of an unaccountable organization. This unaccountable organization has a history of overstepping its bounds.

As policymakers, we need to support measures that increase access to affordable credit, increase the accuracy and security of the consumer credit information, while remedying concerns about the existing system. This legislation undermines the fundamental strengths of that credit reporting system and makes it more difficult, more expensive for lenders to analyze the credit risk of our friends and neighbors across this country.

The United States has the best financial system in the world. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this motion to recommit and vote no on the underlying bill, help maintain the and the United States as the most competitive consumer finance system in the world. And I would urge my friends, there is a right way to vote on this MTR, and there is a 'Huawei' to vote on this MTR.