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WASHINGTON D.C. – As Patrick McHenry (R-NC) enters his second day as Acting Speaker of the U.S. House, government watchdog Accountable.US looks back at McHenry’s top five anti-consumer actions taken to appease his financial industry mega-donors, including vicious attacks against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its leadership, and defense of bad industry practices that fleece and deceive consumers. As Accountable.US has documented, McHenry has taken over $5 million from the financial industry as he made a career out of doing the industry’s bidding in Congress. 

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Acting Speaker Patrick McHenry likes to pose as a moderate. In reality, McHenry is all-in on the extreme and unpopular MAGA Economics agenda that serves wealthy corporate interests at the expense of everyday families."

Accountable.US’ Liz Zelnick

“McHenry routinely makes excuses for bad industry practices, like predatory triple-digit interest rates, abusive debt collection tactics, junk fees like a $35 overdraft charge on a gallon of milk, and blatant banking discrimination. Few in Congress have been more hostile and vengeful against federal efforts to protect consumers than Patrick McHenry, and few have taken more money from big banks, greedy landlords and predatory lenders that benefit from weaker regulation. Wall Street lobbyists – like the ones McHenry hired on his staff – are certainly relishing the chance to take their anti-consumer agenda to the next level,” continued Zelnick, Director of Economic Security and Corporate Power for the watchdog group behind the ‘Defend American Consumers’ campaign and the ‘MAGA Economics’ project.

 

Rep. McHenry’s most anti-consumer actions include: 

  • One of McHenry’s first acts as chair of the House Financial Services Committee was stacking the majority staff with industry insiders and lobbyists, including those formerly lobbying for the American Bankers Association and JPMorgan Chase.
  • In July 2017, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) called the CFPB’s arbitration rule—which would have made it easier for harmed consumers to join together in class-action lawsuits against abusive financial services companies— “deeply flawed” and co-sponsored a resolution that eventually invalidated the rule.
  • Rep. McHenry has twice introduced legislation meant to help payday lenders get around state interest rate caps.
  • In July 2023, House Financial Services Chair McHenry co-led a group of over 130 congressional Republicans in filing an amicus brief in support of the payday industry’s lawsuit against the CFPB’s funding structure.
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