Blumenthal Releases Report On Trump's Gutting of Consumer Protections
Trump is making life more expensive for ordinary Americans by weakening overdraft fee restrictions, increasing credit card late fees & more
[Hartford, CT] — Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal released a report entitled Trump’s Reality: Unaffordability and Financial Instability that details how President Trump and Congressional Republicans have drastically weakened consumer protections and are risking the stability of our financial system to enrich big banks at the expense of hardworking Americans.
“When President Trump said he “loves inflation” and doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” his policies reflect that. President Trump has put the special interests of the ultra-wealthy, including big banks, first, raising costs for American families and jeopardizing our economy,” Blumenthal writes in the report.
As costs for gas, groceries, housing and health care are skyrocketing thanks to the Trump Administration, Americans are feeling the financial squeeze. According to a Politico Poll from May 2026, 53 percent of Americans believe the cost of living is the highest they can remember.
At the same time, Trump continues to enact policies that take money — an estimated $21 billion annually — out of Americans pockets including:
- Weakening restrictions on overdraft fees by signing into a law a bill that overturned a Biden-era rule that capped most overdraft fees at $5.
- Increasing credit card late fees by blocking a rule that would have saved Americans more than $10 billion a year.
- Removing protections for Buy Now, Pay Later consumers.
- Making retirement accounts vulnerable to risky assets such as cryptocurrency and private credit.
- Blocking homeowners from receiving escrow interest payments.
- Allowing banks to take on more debt and loosening bank oversight.
Blumenthal’s report recommends a swift reversal of many of these rules and the passage of legislation to enshrine certain consumer protections into law including the Credit Card Fairness Act, the Buy Now Pay Later Protection Act of 2025, and the Homeowners’ Escrow Savings Act.
The full report is available here.
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