DoD Enters Consumer Agency Fray

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You know the fight for financial reform has truly hit a fever pitch when the Defense Department, the monolith of the US government, has entered the ring. Not to be outdone by auto-industry lobbyists, the Pentagon has begun to lobby the Senate banking committee to convince them, including chairman Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), that any new consumer-protection agency should oversee auto dealers as well as banks and non-banking companies like subprime mortgage lenders, Politico reports. The DoD insists that any new consumer agency regulate dealers due to numerous reports of car salesmen preying on members of the military—a tactic Mother Jones‘ own Stephanie Mencimer reported in detail on last summer. And because the House’s version of financial-reform exempted auto dealers from a consumer agency’s oversight, the DoD is pushing hard to make sure the Senate doesn’t include the same loophole.

The Pentagon’s push came most notably in a February 26 letter from Clifford Stanley, an undersecretary of defense, citing auto dealers’ “unscrupulous” practices toward members of the military. A consumer advocate added, “Predatory lending affects our military preparedness…It explains that this is not just some liberal position.” A spokesman from the National Automotive Dealers Association told Politico that the practices decried by the DoD are already outlawed, and that a new consumer agency would only increase bureaucratic bloat in Washington. “Creating new regulatory mandates on top of existing federal and state statutes will likely drive up costs, limit vehicle financing options and, for many consumers including service members, effectively eliminate their ability to obtain financing to meet their vehicle need,” the spokesman said.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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