The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing entitled “The Semi-Annual Report of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” with Richard Cordray, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
 
U.S. Representative Lynn Westmoreland serves on the Financial Services Committee and questioned Director Cordray on its jurisdiction in relation to the Federal Trade Commission’s investigatory practices and the CFPB’s data security standards. He issued the following statement:
 
“Since its creation, the CFPB has been exercising authority over many different industries and prioritizing the agency’s own agenda above the well-being of the consumer. Most recently, the CFPB has begun investigating and penalizing private companies for their data security practices. Since 2002, the FTC has opened almost 60 cases on data security. Why do we need two government agencies doing the same thing? We don’t. Its excessive and duplicative.
 
“Without an across-the-board set of guidelines, how are businesses supposed to know if they’re complying with the CFPB’s fickle set of data security standards when the CFPB’s own director cannot outline any of them specifically. If I were a business owner watching Director Corday at the hearing today, I would be confused as how to comply with the CFPB. It’s a moving target and sets private companies up for failure – once again, allowing the CFPB to pick winners and losers.”
 
During today’s hearing, Rep. Westmoreland also brought to attention the large amount of information the CFPB has on its consumers, including: social security numbers, latitude/longitude of their real estate, and education records. A list of additional information can be found here.
 
In addition to serving on the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Westmoreland is Chairman of the Subcommittee on NSA and Cybersecurity for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.