Tim Kaine isn’t shy about his work as a fair housing lawyer. When he ran as the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee in 2016, the Virginia senator routinely touted
his past pro bono efforts to help low-income families deal with shady landlords and racist lenders. Combined with his affable dork-dad delivery, Kaine helped shore up Hillary Clinton’s credibility on an ambitious anti-discrimination agenda. And it didn’t sound like empty politician talk: Kaine had done the work.
He still feels a connection with civil rights attorneys. “In representing people who are getting ripped off or who don’t have anybody else to stand up for them or who don’t even know the questions to ask or where to turn for help, you are the hero,” Kaine told a Washington gathering of the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center in November.
And on Monday, the Senate will hold a key vote on a
Kaine-sponsored bill that deliberately undermines the government’s ability to enforce laws against racial discrimination in the housing market. The legislation would block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from collecting key data showing when and where families of color are being overcharged for home loans or steered into predatory products. It’s just one small provision in a broad financial deregulation package, which is almost certain to clear both chambers of Congress and receive President Donald Trump’s signature. Last week,
17 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted to advance the bill.
The effort to chip away at anti-discrimination enforcement has largely gone overlooked this year, as banking watchdogs focused their criticism on the legislation’s rollback of tougher rules against risk-taking at megabanks that were implemented in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Both foreign financial conglomerates and big American regional lenders would enjoy lighter federal supervision if the bill passes.
To its opponents, the bill represents a contorted statement of values, prioritizing short-term bank profits over consumer protection and financial stability.
“This is a bad bill,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told HuffPost. “No Democrat and no Republican should support it.”
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