Blumenthal Statement on CFPB Plan to Curb Use of Forced Arbitration Clauses

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, issued the following statement on a new plan announced today by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that will curb the use of forced arbitration clauses:

“I applaud the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for today’s crucial step towards ending the use and abuse of forced arbitration clauses that deny millions of Americans the chance to seek justice. As has been made clear repeatedly —including most recently in the Bureau’s thoughtful and authoritative study of the issue — these clauses have one purpose and one purpose only: to stop large financial institutions that abuse their customers from being held accountable. I look forward to supporting the CFPB’s efforts to ban forced arbitration in financial contracts, and I will continue fighting to end the use of this practice in every sector of the economy.”

In May, Blumenthal led a letter with Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) urging the CFPB to undertake rulemaking to eliminate use of forced arbitration clauses and is an original co-sponsor of the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2015 (S.1133), which would ban all forced arbitration agreements so far as they impact employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil rights dispute.

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