Overnight Regulation: Consumer bureau chief launches review of agency | Dems search for 51st net neutrality vote | EPA official declines to testify at Superfund hearing | Cordray slams move to unwind payday lending rule

Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from the federal agencies, Capitol Hill, the courts and beyond. It’s Wednesday night in Washington, and we’re once again on shutdown watch. Government funding runs out Friday, and Democrats and Republicans are locked in a showdown over immigration.

 

THE BIG STORIES

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is asking the firms its regulates to submit complaints about the agency’s core actions.

The CFPB announced Wednesday that the agency will ask “for evidence to ensure the bureau is fulfilling its proper and appropriate functions to best protect consumers.”

The request is the latest step forward in acting Director Mick Mulvaney’s effort to draw back the bureau’s aggressive regulatory and enforcement actions.

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The CFPB will publish a series of requests for comment in the Federal Register, often the first step an agency takes before proposing a rule. The first request asks for complaints about the bureau’s civil investigative demands, a type of subpoena the bureau uses during enforcement actions.

Mulvaney, who’s also the director of the Office of Management and Budget, has shifted the CFPB’s focus to deregulation and expanding choices for consumers. The complaint requests would likely yield a massive trove of CFPB criticism that Mulvaney could use to justify sweeping changes.

Sylvan Lane has more here.

 

Senate Democrats are hunting for one more Republican vote to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from repealing net neutrality rules.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Tuesday that all 49 Democrats have endorsed legislation to preserve the rules. With Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) already on board, Democrats need the support of just one more Republican to ensure the legislation is sent to the House.

The bill, which will be introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would use a legislative tool called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to roll back the FCC’s vote last month scrapping the 2015 net neutrality rules. The rules have required internet service providers (ISP) to treat all web traffic equally, and supporters say they’re essential to preventing companies such as Comcast and Verizon from abusing their control over internet access.

Democrats plan to use procedural rules under the CRA to force a vote on the bill in the coming months.

Will the bill pass? Unlikely. Even if it does get through the Senate, there’s a tougher path in the House. And, there’s no reason to think President Trump would sign it.

So what’s the point? Democrats see this as an opportunity to capitalize on the outcry surrounding the FCC repeal and force Republicans to vote on net neutrality ahead of the midterm elections.

Get the full picture from Harper Neidig here.

 

ON TAP FOR THURSDAY:

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on digital commerce and consumer protection holds another hearing in their “disruptor series,” this time looking at the internet of things, manufacturing and innovation.

The House Energy and Commerce Environment subcommittee holds a hearing on “modernizing the Superfund cleanup program.”

The House Natural Resources subcommittee on energy and mineral resources holds a hearing on the Interior Department efforts to “eliminate onshore energy burdens.”

The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on reforming the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holds a hearing on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.

 

REGULATORY ROUNDUP

Finance: The former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) blasted his successor in a series of tweets Wednesday for attempting to unwind the agency’s rule on payday lending.

Richard Cordray, the bureau’s first director, panned the CFPB’s plans as “truly shameful action by the interim pseudo-leaders” of the bureau, now overseen by Acting Director Mick Mulvaney.

“Let’s see the case be made, with full debate, on whether the zealots and toadies can justify repealing a rule to protect consumers against extortionate payday loans,” Cordray continued.

“Whenever the public has voted on this issue, it has always overwhelmingly sided against payday lenders.”

Sylvan Lane has more here.

 

Environment: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s point man for Superfund efforts has declined to testify at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the sites’ cleanup efforts scheduled for Thursday.

After previously promising to speak at the hearing, Albert Kelly withdrew his name from the witness list last week, citing “an unavoidable scheduling conflict,” according to a Democratic spokesperson for the committee.

Kelly, a former chairman of Oklahoma-based SpiritBank, made headlines recently following news that he had been banned from working in the banking industry. The Intercept also reported that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) had fined Kelly $125,000 in May 2017 for violating the law.

Read more from Miranda Green here.

 

Transportation: House Democrats on Wednesday pushed Amtrak to provide updates on its efforts to implement a key train safety feature, in addition to a progress report on the company’s overall “safety culture.”

In a letter to Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson, Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) requested the railroad service, by February, provide them with the same information it provides the Federal Railroad Administration.

“We want and need the full picture, regardless of whether Amtrak owns it,” the lawmakers wrote, referring to infrastructure and train cars.

“If you operate it or operate on it, we want to know the status of [Positive Train Control] implementation in detail, including information on locomotives that are equipped by route, installation of track segments and other infrastructure by route, and information on whether your back office servers are connected to the back office servers of other railroads by route.”

Mallory Shelbourne has more here.

 

Environment: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is highlighting 31 contaminated land sites across the country for their redevelopment and commercial potential.

The agency flagged notable Superfund sites in a list published Wednesday in an effort to direct “interested developers and potential owners” to what they call “formerly contaminated” sites.

Spots listed include the Allied Paper site on the Kalamazoo River in Michigan and Eagle Mine in Colorado.

The EPA lists the two among the sites with the “greatest expected” potential to be redeveloped in their communities. In its plan, the EPA says it will work to identify interested businesses and developers to reuse the Superfund sites.

Miranda Green has more here.

 

Environment: The attorney generals for New York and Connecticut are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over out-of-state air pollution that affects their constituents.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Wednesday that he is partnering with Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen on a lawsuit aimed at forcing the EPA to implement tougher regulatory standards on interstate smog pollution.

“Millions of New Yorkers breathe unhealthy air due to smog pollution, much of which blows into New York from upwind states,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “Yet the Trump EPA continues to ignore its responsibilities under the Clean Air Act to reduce interstate smog pollution. Since the Trump EPA refuses to follow the law, we’re suing to protect the health of New Yorkers.”

Josh Delk has more here.

 

Health care: The Senate Finance Committee voted largely along party lines to advance Alex Azar’s nomination to helm the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

His nomination will now head to a what appears to be an easy confirmation vote on the floor before the full Senate.

All Republicans voted in favor of Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive and HHS appointee, while Sen. Tom Carper (Del.) was the only Democrat to support Azar’s nomination in the 15 to 12 committee vote.

Rachel Roubein has more here.

 

Environment: Global automaker Toyota is not partnering with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), despite December comments from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that the two would be working together on a review of the agency’s management practices.

Christopher Reynolds, Executive Vice President of Corporate Resources at Toyota, wrote in a Jan. 9 letter to the Environmental Working Group that “at this point there are no definitive plans to move forward with a project” with the EPA.

Reynolds went on to call the discussions Toyota was having with EPA “preliminary.”

Reynolds was responding to a letter the Environmental Working Group sent him in December questioning Toyota’s decision to work with EPA under their Toyota Production System Support program. 

News of the potential partnership came to light while Pruitt was testifying at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Dec. 8.

Miranda Green has the details here.

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

Former Energy employee says he was fired for leaking photos of Perry with coal mogul (The Hill)

The antitrust case against Facebook, Google and Amazon (The Wall Street Journal)

FTC investigates Broadcom over negotiations with customers (The Wall Street Journal)

Most businesses want regulatory alignment after Brexit (Financial Times)

Bitcoin continues rapid slide as Russia and China stoke regulatory fears (The Guardian)

US financial crime fighters eye overseas virtual currency platforms: official (Reuters)