The House passed its regulatory reform bill, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, H.R. 4173, 202 (against) to 223 (for). Within this bill was the language that creates the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

During today's debate Rep Minnick offered up an anti-consumer amendment that would have stripped the bill of a provision that created the CFPA. Thanks to CU's great lobbying team in DC and our activists all over the country we were able to defeat that amendment and pass a bill that actually does something real for Main Street. Also, a big huge shout out to The Consumerist for helping us get the word out.

From the NY Times

After two days of floor debate, the House voted 223 to 202 to approve the measure. It creates a new agency to oversee consumer lending, establishes new rules for transactions that contributed to the meltdown, and seeks to reduce the threat that one or two huge companies on the verge of collapse could bring down the economy....

“We need this law to create a new squad of financial cops whose sole job is to protect taxpayers from others’ greed,” said Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas.

UPDATE

Jim Guest, the president of CU praised the House vote in favor of financial regulatory reform legislation..

“This agency would go a long way toward stopping the deceptive practices that helped spark the economic crisis a year ago,” Guest said. “We need an aggressive watchdog in Washington that looks out for the best interests of consumers. This agency would crack down on lenders and banks that abuse their customers, and it would provide information consumers need to make informed financial decisions. The House vote is a big victory for consumers, and it gives us momentum as the debate shifts to the Senate.”

Click here to see the specifics of how the vote went down.