Women’s Group Slams Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Support for Payday Lenders
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 14, 2016
CONTACT: Brett Abrams | 516-841-1105 | brett@unbendablemedia.com
Women’s Group Slams Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Support for Payday Lenders
30,000 UltraViolet Members Demand Wasserman Schultz Stop Opposing President Obama, Sen. Warren’s Plan to Protect Women from Payday Lenders
MIAMI, FLORIDA — More than 30,000 members of UltraViolet, a national women’s advocacy organization, are calling on Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) to end her support for payday lenders and stop co-sponsoring a bill in the House of Representatives that would undermine Senator Elizabeth Warren and President Obama’s efforts to reign in the predatory lending practices of payday lenders.
VIEW THE PETITION HERE: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/dws_warren_payday_lenders/
UltraViolet argues that Rep. Wasserman Schultz’ supports legislation that would exploit poor people, especially women and people of color, with enormous fees and interest rates. With more than two-thirds of minimum wage earners being women, UltraViolet argues delaying the regulation of payday lenders, which is what Senator Warren and President Obama aimed to do in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would be catastrophic for poor women around the country.
“The head of the Democratic Party, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is trying to hamstring Elizabeth Warren’s signature initiative–and throwing women under the bus in the process. She is co-sponsoring a bill that would pave the way for payday lenders to rip off women for years to come. Even worse, she’s rallying other Democrats to join her in advancing the bill,” explained Karin Roland, Chief Campaigns Officer for UltraViolet. “If Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s bill goes into effect, it’ll be two more years before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can start reining in some of the worst payday lenders. That’s two full years where payday lenders will be free to exploit poor people, especially poor women and people of color, with enormous fees and interest rates to make ends meet. It is unacceptable for the leader of the Democratic Party to be such a staunch advocate of something that would seriously impact family economic security around the country”
According to Allied Progress, Wasserman Schultz has received $68,000 in political donations from payday lenders – including $29,000 in 2010 and $5000 in 2016. Allied Progress reported that on two occasions, Wasserman Schultz received thousands of dollars in political donations soon before or shortly after taking pro-industry action.
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UltraViolet is an online community of over 700,000 women and men who take collective action to expose and fight sexism in the public sector, private sector and the media. Find out more at WeAreUltraViolet.org