At the recent United for Liberty debate that was live-streamed on adn.com and is still available online, Dan Sullivan said he would get rid of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Sullivan's proposal would be devastating for military service members because it would eliminate the Office of Servicemember Affairs, which is focused solely on protecting service members from financial predators.
I'm a veteran of the Iraq war. It is offensive that Sullivan would throw service members under the bus to placate the Wall Street banks that are contributing to his campaign. Those same banks have ripped off service members in the past.
Holly Petraeus, wife of the general under whom I served in Iraq, leads the Office of Servicemember Affairs in the CFPB. Sullivan's proposal would eliminate her job and her agency. Ms. Petraeus' office is focused on protecting service members from financial crimes. Her office is needed because, sadly, some companies target service members.
For example, Ms. Petraeus' Office of Servicemember Affairs cracked down on Colfax, a company "with a long and deplorable record of preying on service members." Colfax systematically hit service members with hidden fees, ripping off the women and men serving our country. Thanks to Ms. Petraeus, 17,000 consumers no longer are on the hook for paying Colfax's deceptive fees. Only through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's work could we protect service members from its abuses.
Ms. Petraeus' office also got the lender Sallie Mae to repay $96 million in fees it overcharged service members on student loans. Sallie Mae had denied military students interest rate reductions that they should have received, fleecing students who have served their country. Working with the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Petraeus' office forced the bank to return students' money.
Dan Sullivan's proposal would fire Holly Petraeus and return America to a past when banks could systematically prey on service members. Sullivan's proposal is outrageous, particularly in Alaska. Alaska has the highest percentage of veterans in the country. Many of us -- myself included -- believe the government should support service members and veterans alike. The least that can be done is to crack down on predators who target the military.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Holly Petraeus' Office of Servicemember Affairs are making great progress in stopping abuse by big banks. Let's not go back to the days of too-big-to-fail and rampant abuse by Wall Street. It was hard work to pass Wall Street reform. Wall Street hired more than a hundred lobbyists to fight it, but Congress stood up to Wall Street and did the right thing. We can't backtrack by letting Wall Street allies like Dan Sullivan repeal these important reforms.
I strongly disagree with Sullivan's proposal to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For the sake of other veterans and service members, I hope Sullivan never has a chance to enact his proposal.
Shaina Kilcoyne is an Iraq war veteran. She lives in Anchorage.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com