Changes Impacting Consumers Under the Trump Administration-What You Need to Know

Americans have survived a jarring first year under the Trump right-wing juggernaut. This article shows changes which have already occurred in the government, which will have far reaching effects on your wallet, liberty, health, and security. The critical areas are listed in alphabetical order, not necessarily in order of importance.

Banking-Consumer Protections Dodd-Frank Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA)	Dodd-Frank Act was created to prevent the global banking collapse of 2007, due to big banks and hedge funds trading on unsecured junk quality mortgages. The U.S. gov. under President Obama had to lend money to banks to prevent a total collapse- 623 billion was loaned and 390 billion has been repaid. https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/list The CFPA was created to fight predatory behavior by banks. When lenders have violated federal regulations, they must pay a civil penalty and/or make financial amends to the consumer. Here is a link to the companies whom have had to pay up: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/payments-harmed-consumers/payments-by-case/ So far, the CFB has awarded 11.5 billion to 29 million consumers from abusive lenders. This works out to $407 per individual.[1] Money has come from auto lenders, payday operations, and student loans scammers	Banks have been whittling away at the core requirements for adequate reserves. This means banks want to get back to the wild west of gambling with your money. Janet Yellen, retired head of the Federal Reserve oversaw compliance and enforcement of these provisions. Republicans are saying Dodd-Frank is stagnating the economy when the unemployment rate is 5%. Billionaire Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin a former Goldman Saks investment banker, is responsible for the rollback. Here is an article on the billionaire banker’s wife expressing no empathy for the average Americans these laws protect.[2] Congress passed the Financial Choice Act on June 8, 2017.[3] This law will kill many of the Dodd-Frank fiscal responsibility requirements. Under Obama, in November 2017, Congress approved a rule voiding banks (credit card companies) from mandatory arbitration requirements in contracts with consumers. [4]https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/prepared-remarks-of-cfpb-director-richard-cordray-at-the-arbitration-field-hearing-20151007/  Arbitration is a legal trick to limit consumers ability to seek legal remedy (class action settlements) for rip-offs by banks.)  Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney director of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, against the recommendations of the outgoing director. Mulvaney, former cabinet appointee of the Office of Management, responsible for slashing funding to healthcare and other programs is determined to limit its effectiveness. This means, no consumer watchdog and a free-for-all for the banking industry.  You can look forward to more of the predatory Wells Fargo behavior reported this year.[5]
Healthcare Costs Funding	Former head of Health and Human Services, Tom Price was fired due to overuse of expensive tax payer funded charter flights. He is replaced by drug company executive, Alex Azar, whose approval is pending. Republican congressmen are resolute on cutting funding to healthcare, including stopping the subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, removing the requirement that businesses with 50 or more employees provide insurance, and equal access to women’s health services.	Don’t expect to see any reduction in drug prices. He worked for Eli Lily for 10 years. He will look at ways to change the Affordable Care Act. He will certainly review FDA processes. Not sure what he will do about funding. Currently, the Republican’s have refused to reauthorize funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Plan, which has been used to provide healthcare for low-income children for the last 4 presidencies. Currently 8 million children receive healthcare this way. Republicans are willing to give tax breaks to billionaires but not provide healthcare for kids.[6]
Judiciary-Your Liberty	Republican Congressmen refused to appoint Obama appointees for federal judgeships,[7] the backlog is over 100 open court positions in the circuit court, district courts, and federal court positions.	Trump has nominated 50 judges for lifetime appointments. Currently right wing Republican Congressmen are fast tracking lawyers considered unqualified by the American Bar Association, those whom have never tried a case, and whom have sworn loyalty oaths to obscure religious sects.[8] [9] (Goodstein, 2017) Are these the people you want deciding case law for your property, liberty, and punitive rights? And of course, Republicans want to gain a majority on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe-v-Wade.
National Security State Department	Republican Congress is shutting down the bioterrorism prevention lab in NY. The department of Homeland Defense already absorbed a 28% budget cut this year and is slated for more. These cuts are short sited and will go to fund tax breaks for corporations and billionaires. https://healthpolicymaven.blogspot.com/2017/10/microbes-not-missiles-how-us-should.html Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State has cut 2,000 international experts from the State Department. Tillerson repeatedly turned down briefings from Chief of Security, Bill A. Miller, whom had to cite the federal law mandating the Secretary of State listen to security briefings before Tillerson would give him fifteen minutes. It is noteworthy that the entire senior diplomatic staff quit rather than work with this administration. Senior Congressman from both sides of the aisle are concerned about the cuts to the department. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/us/politics/state-department-tillerson.html	Anthrax spores can kill many people and is undetectable in the mail. Lethal bacteria for which there is no known effective treatment exist. The risk of a bioterrorism event is real and growing. The U.S. is underfunded and unprepared. Every hospital administrator in the country is worried about this. For all of the hatred sowed toward Hilary Clinton over Benghazi, the current Secretary of State is endangering diplomats all over the world by understaffing, under budgeting, and ignoring security briefings.  It takes decades for someone to learn the customs, languages, and protocols required to be a key asset in foreign affairs and these ignorant actions will cost the U.S. dearly just when we need diplomacy the most.
Personal Safety	Even after the Las Vegas massacre the Republican Congress is trying to pass the Sportsman’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, which will make it easier for people to acquire silencers, high velocity weapons, and explosives. https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/amid-mass-shootings-gop-controlled-congress-remains-focused-on-loosening-gun-laws/2017/10/02/f31dd414-a77a-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html?utm_term=.87af7b4bfdfc	The NRA is backing this bill and cares nothing about the toll high velocity weapons have had on the general public. It is all about profit for them. Why should a few people who need to owe machine guns and conversion bump stock kits be allowed to endanger us all? There are more regulations to drive a car than for gun ownership. Congress banned funding for gun violence and cut 2.6 million from the CDC budget after a 1993 study found that homes with guns are three times more likely to have a homicide. The NRA was so concerned that the true costs of gun violence would become widely known, it lobbied for the ban. (Sudermann, 2017)
Taxes	Both the House and the Senate have passed bills to reduce corporate taxes and those for the top 5% of income earners, ballooning the deficit. The bill cuts corporate taxes by 40% and reduces the top income tax rate. Also, 91% of those earning $500,000 or more per year would get a tax cut. The middleclass are paying for a tax cut for the rich while their healthcare is being stripped. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/30/us/politics/tax-cuts-increases-for-your-income.html	The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has stated this budget will add 1 trillion dollars to the federal deficit. The only Republican who had cojones to vote no was Senator Bob Corker. If approved, this will assure higher taxes on working class Americans to pay for existing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security obligations. It also will adversely impact the ability of the country to meet future obligations. The Republican Congress have federal pensions and healthcare and they do not care if you have even the skimpiest programs. The bill is fiscally irresponsible.

Merry Friggin Christmas from the Republicans. Let us hope for a better New Year.

And this is the healthpolicymaven signing off, encouraging you NOT to sign blank release forms for healthcare treatment. Do stipulate that for which you consent and that for which you do not. Americans are too often asked to sign a blank check to subsidize some profit-making organization's bottom line. Just as our children will be picking up the tab for the Republican tax cut for the privileged in corporate America.
This article was written by Roberta E. Winter, a health policy analyst, nonfiction author, and independent journalist. Please do share this article virally. 

---

[1] http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/donald-trump-cfpb-consumer-protection-financial-bureau-elizabeth-warren/`

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/21/treasury-secretarys-wife-boasts-of-travel-on-government-plane-to

[3] https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/10

[4] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/11/22/2017-25324/arbitration-agreements

[5] http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/10/investing/wells-fargo-fake-account-settlement/index.html

[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/us/politics/children-health-insurance-program-congress.html

[7] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/05/25/blue-slips-and-judicial-nominees-in-senate/

[8] http://judicialnominations.org/in-the-news

[9] https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/17/trump-judges-nominees-court-picks-243834