Brindisi’s letter prompted by several calls from constituents in his Assembly District asking for help following the credit breach that has impacted about 143 million people, and approximately 8 million New Yorkers
Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi of Utica has asked Congresswoman Claudia Tenney of New Hartford to take action to help millions of Americans whose personal financial information was exposed in the recent Equifax consumer credit breach.
In a letter Brindisi sent to Tenney this week, he also asks her to reverse her plan to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has protected millions of Americans who have had personal information compromised, among other financial issues.
“As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, Congresswoman Tenney is in a position to help the estimated 143 million Americans who now are worried about their credit scores, their identities, and their financial future. I have received several calls from worried constituents impacted by the Equifax data breach and up until now, aside from a Facebook post, she has been silent on this very important issue. I am asking her to come up with a plan to help people affected by the Equifax breach, as well as to safeguard all consumers against future such incidents, Brindisi said.
Brindisi’s letter to Congresswoman Claudia Tenney appears below:
Dear Congresswoman Tenney:
I write today with great urgency as it relates to the Equifax Data breach that will inevitably become an issue for our hometown and is certainly—at the least—an issue you should speak about in excess of a singular 130-word cookie-cutter Facebook post.
Congresswoman, you are one of a select number of members in the House to hold a seat on the Financial Services Committee. Yet, since the consumer data hack was made public, covered by both local and national print and television, you have said next-to-nothing about this federally-relevant breach or the egregious actions of Equifax. Aren’t you angry? I am.
I have taken several calls from constituents worried about their credit scores, their identities and the impact this massive breach will have on their financial future. That is why today I am writing seeking your help on their behalf.
Locals here are bound to find themselves impacted by the Equifax data breach, whether it is related to their Social Security number, birth date, address, driver’s license number, or all of it. So, after letting the clock tick for days, I must ask you to do two easy things right away: say something of substance and do something of value as it relates to Equifax. People are anxious, and rightfully so.
Even more importantly, I am using this terrible breach to re-educate you on your vigorous and head-scratching support for the CHOICE Act. I know you believe this 600-page bill is the answer to our local economic woes, but I am formally asking you to take a second look, especially given the Equifax mess you will soon have to deal with in Congress.
Aside from its dangerous misunderstanding of systemic risk to the financial system, the CHOICE Act will hurt the consumers you represent, some of whom may find themselves victims of the Equifax hack—just ask Republicans in the U.S. Senate who won’t even look at the CHOICE Act.
To boot, independent economists warn that the CHOICE Act will weaken the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau. Among some of the poisons in the bill you support is a measure to “require a cost-benefit analysis” when it comes to financial protections. You know language like this is a euphemism for rolling back consumer protections that have rescued the very people of NY-22 from financial fraud, corporate abuse and deception.
The CFPB needs authority to protect consumers. Please, do not misunderstand this critical fact or the reality that your CHOICE Act would cripple the CFPB and undermine its actual charge: to educate consumers, promote transparency of financial products and resolve actual consumer complaints, like those potentially caused by Equifax.
The bottom line is that in an era of Equifax data breaches and overall consumer disregard, your support for the CHOICE Act should give you great pause and it worries the people of my Assembly District and your hometown, real people and businesses.
And so, I again, ask you to publicly speak about the Equifax crisis by putting forth some type of action plan to help constituents, and I urge you to reverse course on the CHOICE Act. It is not too late for you to do either of these things right now.
We’re counting on you, Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi