00:00from Massachusetts. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize my friend and my
00:05former colleague Rich Cordry. Rich's career demonstrates public service at
00:11its very best. Nearly 14 years ago, I picked up the phone and made one of the
00:16smartest phone calls I've ever made. It was to Rich Cordry. I asked him to take a
00:22chance on me, to join me in starting a new federal agency. That was just getting
00:29started agency turned out to be the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now
00:35Rich was finishing up his term as Attorney General for the state of Ohio.
00:39As AG, he had earned a strong reputation for being the kind of public servant who
00:45looks out for the little guy. He was in multiple battles and he led major
00:49lawsuits against both Bank of America and AIG. Protecting consumers seemed to
00:56be in his blood, so it was a natural fit for Rich to take charge of the
01:01enforcement arm of the CFPB. Establishing the CFPB was a huge task. Critics said
01:09the new consumer agency was a pipe dream. Republicans said that it would never get
01:14through Congress. Armies of lobbyists poured millions of dollars into opposing
01:19it, but none of that fazed Rich at all. He always stayed level, calm, and
01:25absolutely determined. He did the work needed to bring that agency to life
01:31because that's just who he is. Rich's courage and determination paid off. On
01:37July 18th, 2011, a day I will never forget, I stood beside President Obama in the
01:43Rose Garden as he announced Rich Cordry as his nominee to be the first
01:48official director of the CFPB. President Obama told me two things about Rich. He
01:56said he liked Rich, and he said he thought Rich would be a good leader. I
02:01agreed. I just knew that Rich would be terrific, and we were both right. As CFPB
02:08director, Rich forced the biggest financial institutions in this country
02:13to return billions of dollars to the consumers they cheated, and through his
02:18work, he proved that government could work not just for the millionaires and
02:22the billionaires, but for ordinary people. One of the ways he did it was by having
02:29what I call the perfect balance of nerve and skill. I'll share just one story. Rich
02:36has never been shy about taking on the biggest financial institutions in this
02:40country. In the early days, he investigated Capital One for misleading
02:45customers about their cost of free add-ons to their credit cards. These
02:51free services actually cost customers a total of about a hundred and forty
02:57million dollars. So what did Rich do? He put in the work, fought back the armies
03:03of lobbyists and lawyers, and forced Capital One to send the hidden fees back
03:10to every single customer they had cheated. And the best part, the customers
03:16didn't have to wade through reams of paperwork or stay on hold for hours. Rich
03:21set up the system so that the checks came automatically in the mail. He set the
03:27standard for what it means to protect consumers. But that's not all. On top of
03:33getting hardworking Americans their money back, Rich and his team got Capital
03:39One to pay an additional 25 million dollar fine. It takes a special kind of
03:45leader to get that done. At every turn, Rich Corddry has been fearless. Thanks to
03:52Rich, the CFPB has become the watchdog that so many of us fought for. And his
03:58legacy is felt each and every day as the CFPB continues to put money back into
04:05the pockets of working people. Since it got off the ground, the CFPB has now
04:11returned over 20 billion dollars and helped more than 205 million consumers.
04:21I'll say that again, 20 billion dollars returned and 205 million consumers helped.
04:30That would not have happened without Rich Corddry. That record of public
04:35service is awe-inspiring. Nobody would have blamed Rich if he had said, okay, I'm
04:41tired and I'm ready to throw in the towel. But that's not Rich. After his work
04:46at the CFPB, he asked, what more can I do? And for the past three years, he has led
04:54the Office of Federal Student Aid at the Department of Education, a powerfully
04:59important and often thankless gig. Since joining the Department of Education,
05:06Rich has changed millions of lives for the better. And again, that's not an
05:11exaggeration. His North Star was always clear. He worked day in and day out to
05:17protect working people who are getting crushed by student loan debt. Rich stood
05:23up to the student loan servicers who were cheating Americans. And, like he did
05:29with the big banks, he held these guys accountable. For years, servicers failed
05:35borrowers over and over and over, but faced no consequences as they raked in
05:42hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. Rich reversed the Trump-era guidance
05:49that stops states from protecting their own residents against abusive servicer
05:55behavior. He implemented new accountability standards for servicers,
05:59and he backed that by hard data on customer service and performance. And
06:05when those servicers didn't meet those standards, Rich wasn't afraid to hit them
06:11with penalties and push out the bad servicers. Rich was committed to ending
06:18the days of lousy service and big profits for the loan servicers. One of
06:24the most important ways that Rich changed the lives of Americans all
06:29across this country was by overseeing the Biden administration's efforts to
06:34cancel student debt. With Rich Cordray's help, President Biden has canceled more
06:41student loan debt than any president in the history of this country. Nearly 5
06:47million people have seen their student loans canceled, and the administration
06:53has a plan to cancel debt for 30 million Americans in total. Rich Cordray
07:01led the way in fixing the broken debt cancellation programs and making them
07:06work for hard-working Americans. I'll give you just one example on this. Before
07:12President Biden took office, only 7,000 people in total everywhere in the United
07:18States had gotten relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
07:237,000 total. Today, the laws are the same, but with Rich at the helm, nearly 1
07:33million public servants have had their debt wiped out. For working people in
07:39this country, for mommas and daddies, for firefighters and nurses, for DMV workers
07:45down the street and the teacher at your local elementary school, this debt
07:49cancellation has been absolutely life-changing. On a personal note, I am
07:57beyond proud of Rich. Rich is one of the most effective and honest public servants
08:04I have ever met. He has talent and dedication, but what makes him so special
08:10is that Rich has always centered everyday Americans in his work. From
08:16serving as a state rep back in Ohio, to becoming their first-ever Solicitor
08:22General, to taking office at the state's Treasury, and then as Attorney General,
08:27Rich proved each and every day to the people of Ohio that their government
08:33could work for them. And when he came to Washington, he always made sure that
08:38people all across America knew that he was working for them. Whenever he
08:44traveled, wherever people reached out to him, Rich would listen. He'd sit down with
08:51people, hear their stories, hear how they were cheated by a big bank or on a
08:55student loan, and then he would set about making things right. Rich, the American
09:04people owe you a great debt for your work on their behalf. When our country
09:10needed you, you answered the call. You are a true example of public service and one
09:16of the most fearless leaders I have ever known. It is an honor to know you and an
09:23even higher honor to call you a friend. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
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