Disgraced Revolving Door Republicans Back Payday Lender Attack On CFPB

In two weeks, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Community Financial Services Association v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a lawsuit filed by predatory payday lenders seeking to gut the agency’s independent funding structure. The case, which seriously endangers consumers and the broader financial system, is being backed by a rogues gallery of corporate rip-off artists and right-wing crackpots, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (America’s largest corporate lobbying group) and insurrection mastermind John Eastman. 

Included in this anti-consumer coalition are 21 Republican former members of Congress, who filed an amicus brief on July 10th supporting the payday lender plaintiffs in the case. Citing their “direct experience with the congressional appropriations process”, these ex-legislators decry the CFPB’s independent funding mechanism as “an unprecedented departure from the plain text of the Appropriations Clause” This is a completely bogus claim, as the Constitutional Accountability Center has discussed in detail: Congress has long recognized the flexibility the Constitution gives it to fund many agencies (including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Commission, and National Credit Union Administration) outside of the appropriations process. 

The constitutionality argument is a smokescreen for the real reason these former lawmakers oppose the CFPB’s funding structure: all received huge campaign donations from anti-CFPB special interests during their time in Congress, and many actively lobby for anti-consumer corporate offenders today. 

Here’s what you should know about these 21 GOP corporate shills:

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (SEN-MS)

• Lott represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate from 1989 to 2007 and served as Leader of the Senate Republicans from 1996 to 2002. As Senate Majority Leader, Lott presided over passage of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which partially repealed the Glass-Steagall Act’s separation of commercial and investment banking and later contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. 

• Lott stepped down from his leadership post in December 2002 after praising arch-segregationist Strom Thurmond at Thurmond’s 100th birthday party. 

• During his Congressional career, Lott’s top campaign contributors included Citigroup ($28,750) and the Wall Street lobbying group American Bankers Association ($30,000).

• Since leaving the Senate in 2007, Lott has become one of Washington’s most in-demand corporate lobbyists. Lott currently represents Nissan (a CFPB offender) and has previously lobbied for the Financial Services Roundtable, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, and Visa. 

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner (OH-08)

• Boehner served as Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2015, overseeing and encouraging efforts by the House GOP caucus to roll back Dodd-Frank and to gut the CFPB’s funding. 

• Under Boehner’s speakership, the federal government had its first shutdown in nearly 20 years over the GOP’s refusal to fund the Affordable Care Act. Boehner resigned from Congress in 2015 after years of friction with the very Tea Party movement that brought him to power. 

• During his Congressional career, Boehner’s top campaign contributors included Sallie Mae ($176,650), American Financial Group ($136,200), and Bank of America ($123,650).

• In 2016, Boehner joined lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs as a strategic advisor (AKA unregistered lobbyist). The firm’s current clients include Pathward Bank (formerly known as MetaBank) and Nissan (a CFPB offender). 

Former Congressman and HHS Secretary Tom Price (GA-06)

• Price represented Georgia’s 6th Congressional District from 2005 to 2017. As House Budget Chairman, Price once authored a budget plan that would repeal parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and make the CFPB’s annual budget subject to Congressional appropriations. 

• Price served as HHS Secretary in the Trump administration. Only seven months into his tenure, he resigned from the Trump Cabinet after racking up $400,000 in taxpayer-funded private plane trips.  

• During his 12-year Congressional career, Price received $63,000 from the American Bankers Association. In his final reelection campaign, Price’s top donors included UBS ($11,500), Morgan Stanley ($11,000), Bank of America ($10,200), and Wells Fargo ($7,500). 

• Price is currently an operating partner at Shore Capital, a private equity firm focused on the healthcare sector. 

Former Senator Roy Blunt (SEN-MO)

• Blunt represented Missouri in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2023 and Missouri’s 7th Congressional District from 1997 to 2011. During his tenure, Blunt repeatedly supported financial deregulation measures (including the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and 2018 partial repeal of Dodd-Frank) and opposed the CFPB’s regulation of class action arbitration agreements.  

• Blunt was a top recipient of campaign cash from lobbyists representing predatory for-profit colleges that were investigated by the CFPB, including ITT Tech and Bridgepoint. 

• In April 2023, just four months after leaving office, Blunt joined lobbying firm Husch Blackwell Strategies as a strategic advisor (meaning he does not have to disclose his clients).

Former Congressman Jeb Hensarling (TX-05)

• Hensarling served as Representative for Texas’ 5th Congressional District from 2003 to 2019. As Chair of the House Financial Services Committee from 2013 to 2019, Hensarling regularly supported efforts to roll back the Dodd-Frank law and abolish the CFPB. 

• Hensarling’s top career campaign contributors included JPMorgan Chase ($113,186), the American Bankers Association ($94,300), Bank of America ($93,950), UBS ($78,800), Independent COmmunity Bankers of America ($72,750), Goldman Sachs ($71,700), National Auto Dealers Association ($71,500), Cash America International ($69,250), Wells Fargo ($65,750), and Credit Union National Association ($63,750).  

• According to Americans for Financial Reform, Hensarling was the top individual recipient of payday lending industry campaign cash in the 2013-14 election cycle ($210,500), including from major companies like Cash America International and World Acceptance Corporation. 

• In 2015, ethics watchdog Campaign for Accountability called on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Hensarling and 10 other members of Congress for “possible criminal and ethics violations by accepting contributions from the payday lending industry shortly before or after taking official actions in support of the industry.”

• Four months after leaving Congress, Hensarling joined investment bank and former campaign contributor UBS as Executive Vice Chairman of the Americas. 

Former Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06)

• Roskam served as Representative for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District from 2007 to 2019. During his tenure, Roskam supported rollbacks on Dodd-Frank banking regulations and imposing hurdles on the CFPB’s leadership structure.

• Roskam’s top career campaign contributors included Goldman Sachs ($112,400), Morgan Stanley ($77,651), and the American Bankers Association ($71,500). 

• Roskam joined BigLaw/lobbying firm Sidley Austin in July 2019, six months after leaving Congress. While at Sidley, Roskam lobbied for several private equity and investment firms and advised the firm’s clients on “navigating regulatory challenges and prospective enforcement actions” at the CFPB under the Biden administration. In January 2023, Roskam was named head federal policy lobbyist at BakerHostetler, a lobbying firm that represents various large securities and investment firms. 

• Roskam supported a 2017 measure to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, four years after it had investigated him for a $25,000 trip he and his wife had taken to Taiwan.

Former Congressman Kevin Brady (TX-08)

• Brady served as Representative for Texas’ 8th Congressional District from 1997 to 2023 and is best known for authoring Trump’s 2017 trickle-down tax cut law. During his tenure, Brady also opposed Dodd-Frank and other banking regulations and authored a bill to move the CFPB’s budget under Congressional appropriations.

• Brady received nearly $100,000 from the National Auto Dealers Association over his 26 years in Congress, making it one of his top all-time donors. In his final reelection campaign, Brady received large campaign donations from the American Bankers Association ($20,000), Morgan Stanley ($20,000), UBS America ($20,000), and Citigroup ($15,000). 

• Brady was one of 126 Republican House members who signed an amicus brief backing Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit which unsuccessfully sought to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. 

Former Congressman Scott Garrett (NJ-05)

• Garrett served as Representative for New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District from 2003 to 2017. During his tenure, Garrett stridently opposed stronger oversight of big banks and absurdly blamed the CFPB for the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal. 

• After losing his 2016 bid for reelection over anti-gay remarks and being rejected by the Senate to serve as head of the Export-Import Bank, Garrett quietly served as a top employee in the SEC’s Office of General Counself from 2018 to 2021. In August 2023, Garrett became a first-time lobbyist for a U.S.-based investment group that operates a special economic zone in Honduras.

• Garrett’s top career campaign contributors included Citigroup ($69,902), Bank of America ($66,750), UBS ($61,350), debt collector trade group ACA International ($59,000), and the National Auto Dealers Association ($58,000). 

• In 2015, ethics watchdog Campaign for Accountability called on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Garrett and 10 other members of Congress for “possible criminal and ethics violations by accepting contributions from the payday lending industry shortly before or after taking official actions in support of the industry.”

Former Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01)

• Byrne served as Representative for Alabama’s 1st Congressional District from 2014 to 2021. In 2017, he voted for the partial repeal of Dodd-Frank banking regulations. 

• Byrne’s top career campaign contributors included the American Bankers Association ($37,500), Regions Bank ($37,250), and the National Auto Dealers Association ($34,500). 

• Byrne was one of 126 Republican House members who signed an amicus brief backing Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit which unsuccessfully sought to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. 

• Byrne proudly supported Roy Moore in the 2017 Alabama Senate special election, even after multiple women accused Moore of predatory sexual behavior toward them when they were teenagers. 

Former Congressman Stephen Fincher (TN-08)

• Fincher served as Representative for Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District from 2011 to 2017. While in Congress, Fincher co-sponsored legislation that would roll back CFPB regulations on high-price manufactured housing loans and would undermine the Bureau’s effectiveness by replacing its Director with a five-member commission. 

• Fincher’s top career campaign contributors included the anti-CFPB Club for Growth ($62,979), Bank of Halls ($46,000), Southeast Financial Group ($40,012), and the Independent Community Bankers of America ($34,000). 

• In 2011, ethics watchdog CREW named Fincher one of the most corrupt members of Congress for receiving a fraudulent $250,000 loan from Gates Banking and Trust Company, where Fincher’s father served on the board of directors. 

• In 2015, ethics watchdog Campaign for Accountability called on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Fincher and 10 other members of Congress for “possible criminal and ethics violations by accepting contributions from the payday lending industry shortly before or after taking official actions in support of the industry.”

Former Congressman Lynn Westmoreland (GA-03)

• Westmoreland served as Representative for Georgia’s 3rd congressional district from 2007 to 2017. During his Congressional tenure, Westmoreland attacked CFPB regulations on the payday lending industry and supported legislation to weaken the Bureau’s leadership structure and other provisions of Dodd-Frank. 

• Westmoreland’s top career campaign contributors included the National Auto Dealers Association ($57,500), Synovus Financial Corporation ($55,300), and the American Bankers Association ($47,500). 

• Westmoreland once used the racial slur “uppity” to refer to Barack and Michelle Obama and attacked civil rights hero John Lewis for criticizing the Confederate Flag. Westmoreland even said of Confederate soldiers: “The majority of people that actually died in the Civil War on the Confederate side did not own slaves. These were people that were fighting for their states. I don’t think they had even any thoughts about slavery.” 

Former Congressman Tom Graves (GA-14)

• Graves served as Representative for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District from 2013 to 2020. During his Congressional tenure, Graves supported the rollback of CFPB regulations on small-dollar lending and class action arbitration. 

• Graves’ top career campaign contributors included the Club for Growth ($132,750), PTS Financial Services ($47,982), and the American Bankers Association ($42,999). 

• Lobbying firm Ervin Hill Strategy hired Graves as its president and CEO just 19 days after he resigned from Congress, rebranding to Ervin Graves Strategy Group. Graves’ clients at the firm include the American Hotel & Lodging Association, First Financial Loan Company, and the National Association of Credit Services Organizations.

Former Congressman Randy Neugebauer (TX-19)

• Neugebauer served as Representative for Texas’ 19th Congressional District from 2003 to 2017. During his Congressional tenure, Neugebauer drafted legislation to undermine the CFPB’s independent funding and leadership structure and once bluntly said of the Bureau, “I don’t like [it]”.  

• Neugebauer’s top career campaign contributors included the American Bankers Association ($58,500), Bank of America ($53,812), Credit Union National Association ($53,500), Independent Community Bankers of America ($53,350), and the National Auto Dealers Association ($46,000). 

• In 2015, ethics watchdog Campaign for Accountability called on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Neugebauer and 10 other members of Congress for “possible criminal and ethics violations by accepting contributions from the payday lending industry shortly before or after taking official actions in support of the industry.”

• During March 2010 floor speeches on the Affordable Care Act, Neugebauer screamed “baby killer” during remarks by Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak – a rare and widely-condemned breach of House decorum. 

Former Congressman Kevin Yoder (KS-03)

• Yoder served as Representative for Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District from 2011 to 2019. During his Congressional tenure, Yoder supported legislation to weaken the CFPB’s funding and snuck a bailout provision ghost-written by Citigroup executives into a 2014 government spending bill.   

• Yoder’s single highest career campaign contributor was payday lender QC Holdings ($179,607). According to good governance watchdog Accountable.US, “no member of Congress [took] more money from the payday lending industry than Rep. Yoder”. Yoder also received large career donations from Citigroup ($50,999) and Bank of America ($47,549). 

• In 2015, ethics watchdog Campaign for Accountability called on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Yoder and 10 other members of Congress for “possible criminal and ethics violations by accepting contributions from the payday lending industry shortly before or after taking official actions in support of the industry.”

• Yoder joined lobbying firm Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Ventures in 2020. His clients include Microsoft and fintech company Green Dot. 

Former Congressman Jack Kingston (GA-01)

• Kingston served as Representative for Georgia’s 1st Congressional District from 1993 to 2015. During his tenure, he voted against the 2010 Dodd-Frank act and supported legislation falsely attacking the CFPB for a purported lack of independent oversight. 

• Kingston’s fifth-highest career campaign contributor was the National Auto Dealers Association ($73,750). In his failed 2014 campaign for Senate, Kingston received large contributions from Truist Bank, Wells Fargo, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Bankers Association. 

• During his 2014 Senate campaign, Kingston received tens of thousands in campaign donations from companies with ties to Khalid Satary, a convicted healthcare fraudster under a federal deportation order. 

• Kingston joined lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs just one month after leaving Congress. His clients have included right-wing media outlet Newsmax and estate tax repeal advocacy group PATG. 

• Kingston briefly served as an on-air CNN contributor from 2017 to 2019, where he defended Trump’s tweets about his “big nuclear button” as Reaganesque and accused Parkland school shooting survivors of being paid George Soros operatives. 

Former Congressman Bruce Poliquin (ME-02)

• Poliquin served as Representative for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District from 2015 to 2019. During his tenure, Poliquin supported rolling back Dodd-Frank banking regulations, opposed forced arbitration protections for victims of consumer data breaches, and enthusiastically backed Trump CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney’s sabotage of the Bureau. 

• Poliquin’s top career campaign contributors included Quirk Auto Group ($59,500), Central Maine Motors Auto Group ($51,100), Credit Suisse ($38,100), Truist Bank ($33,500), JPMorgan Chase ($33,100), and the American Bankers Association ($32,250). Poliquin also received thousands from credit reporting giant Equifax ahead of voting to gut consumer class action protections and raked in thousands in payday lending contributions the day before voting to gut the CFPB’s funding.

• Poliquin sued to block ranked-choice vote tabulation in his 2018 race against Democrat Jared Golden – a race he ultimately lost by nearly 3,000 votes after all rankings were tabulated. Poliquin also baselessly alleged that voter fraud had cost him the race. A federal judge struck down Poliquin’s challenge in December 2018. 

Former Congressman Rodney Davis (IL-13)

• Davis served as Representative for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District from 2013 to 2023. During his tenure, Davis voted to roll back Dodd-Frank banking regulations and introduced legislation to block the CFPB’s small business lending data collection.

• Davis received $50,000 from the National Auto Dealers Association during his time in Congress, making it one of his top career campaign donors. In his final reelection bid, Davis received large contributions from Visa, the American Bankers Association, and Wells Fargo. 

• Within days of leaving Congress, Davis joined lobbying firm Cozen O’Connor, which currently represents Firstrust Bank and Amazon. 

Former Congressman Van Hilleary (TN-04)

• Hilleary served as Representative for Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District from 1995 to 2003. While in Congress, Hilleary supported the 1999 rollback of Glass-Steagall. 

• During his time in Congress, Hilleary received large campaign donations from Beaman Automotive ($40,300) and the National Bank of Commerce – Memphis ($4000). 

• After leaving Congress, Hilleary worked as a lobbyist for 16 years before returning to the Hill to serve as Chief of Staff to Rep. John Rose – an outspoken opponent of CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. 

Former Congresswoman Mia Love (UT-04)

• Love served as Representative for Utah’s 4th Congressional District from 2015 to 2019. During her tenure, Love supported rollbacks to Dodd-Frank and voted to gut the CFPB’s rule-making and enforcement powers. 

• Love’s top career campaign contributors included Zions Bancorp ($51,700), the American Bankers Association ($38,950), the Credit Union National Association ($30,000), and Elliott Management ($29,666) – the conflicted hedge fund of Justice Alito benefactor Paul Singer. 

Former Congressman Dennis Ross (FL-15)

• Ross served as Representative for Florida’s 15th Congressional District from 2011 to 2019. During his tenure, Ross called the CFPB “unconstitutional” and introduced legislation to roll back its small dollar lending rule and hobble its leadership structure. 

• Ross’ top career campaign contributors included Amscot Financial ($45,180), the Credit Union National Association ($40,000), USAA ($39,000), and the American Bankers Association ($37,500).

Former Congressman Steve Southerland (FL-02)

• Southerland served as Representative for Florida’s 2nd Congressional District from 2011 to 2015. During his tenure, Southerland co-sponsored legislation to roll back the CFPB’s auto lending guidance. 

• During his two terms in Congress, Southerland received large campaign donations from the American Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Goldman Sachs, and National Auto Dealers Association. 

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PHOTO: Official Congressional Portraits of former Senator Trent Lott (MS), former Congressman Tom Price (GA-06), former Speaker of the House John Boehner (OH-08), and former Senator Roy Blunt (MO).