Financial Services and Banking
In light of the Great Recession of 2008, during which Memphis and the nation suffered an unprecedented foreclosure crisis in large part due to unfair, under-regulated and predatory mortgage lending practices, Congressman Cohen strongly supports efforts to prevent future foreclosure crises and dangerous housing market practices.
During the years preceding the mortgage crisis, too many mortgages were made to consumers without regard to the consumer's ability to repay the loans. Loose underwriting practices by some creditors contributed to a mortgage crisis that led to the nation's most serious recession since the Great Depression.
Congressman Cohen voted for the Dodd-Frank Act, signed into law in 2010 by President Barack Obama, to reform the U.S. financial industry in order to prevent a recurrence of the 2008 market crash, and continues to oppose efforts to reverse the protections put into the law as a result of the Dodd-Frank Act.
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WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today reintroduced the Fair Debt Collection Improvement Act that would bar debt collectors from bringing legal actions involving a consumer debt for which the statute of limitations has expired.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today introduced the Reward Each American’s Labor and Make Every Rich Individual Contribute Again (REAL AMERICA) Act, a bold tax reform bill that helps everyday working people while addressing Republican plans to sneak through a $2 trillion tax cut for millionaires and billionaires.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today wrote to Russell Vought, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), with concern at the damage done by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after mass dismissals of the bureau’s personnel.
The letter seeks answers to a series of questions, including “When do you anticipate CFPB investigations resuming?”
The letter reads in part:
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today re-introduced the Tax Return Preparer Accountability Act to provide the Internal Revenue Service with the explicit authority to regulate tax preparation services by enacting training and integrity requirements.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today announced that the Memphis-based River City Capital Investment Corporation will receive $619,000 from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Program.
WASHINGTON -- Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today re-introduced legislation that would help put an end to the for-profit college industry’s aggressive recruiting of veterans, service members, and their families.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today applauded the Biden Administration decision to shorten the path to student debt cancellation under the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Program. Those students who borrowed less than $12,000 and have been in repayment for 10 years will have their entire debt cancelled next month without taking any action. The decision accelerates the SAVE deadlines by six months, making life-changing opportunities for student borrowers.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today managed the floor debate and then voted for his National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Extension Act that extends for four more years the exemption from the bankruptcy code’s means test for certain members of the National Guard and reservists. Congressman Cohen led the effort to exempt members of the National Guard and reservists in 2008 and extensions of the exemption in 2015 and 2019.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today voted for his National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Extension Act that he introduced in May. The bipartisan measure passed the Judiciary Committee on a 24-0 vote and is now headed for the full House of Representatives. The legislation would provide the same means-test treatment under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code for guard members and reservists who were recently federally deployed as that of active duty servicemembers.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) today introduced the bicameral Equal Employment for All Act, which would prohibit employers from using credit reports to evaluate job applicants.
Congressman Cohen, who has introduced the measure in each of the past five Congresses, made the following statement: