McMahon Slams Dodd’s Consumer Protection Plan

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon came out against a new consumer financial protection agency being pushed by the man she hopes to replace in Washington.

McMahon wouldn’t comment directly on ​“payday loans,” considered by some a predatory lending practice.

Those loans may be a target of the plan being put together by U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. Dodd is expected Monday to announce a final version of the contentious financial reform bill he has worked on for months as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Dodd, a Democrat, is retiring from the Senate this year. McMahon, one of the Republicans running for his seat, was asked about his proposal after she addressed Ansonia’s Republican Town Committee Friday night.

Dodd has been at odds with Republicans in Washington over whether his bill should include the regulation of ​“payday loans,” high-interest short-term loans often given out at check-cashing establishments. Customers short on cash before their next paycheck seek out the loans — often at incredibly high interest. The practice has been criticized as legalized loan sharking. Dodd wanted payday loans regulated as part of his larger financial reform bill. He met with stiff resistance from Bob Corker, a Republican Senator from Tennessee.

According to a report Sunday by The New York Times, Dodd’s proposal will include oversight of payday loans.

McMahon wouldn’t comment directly on the payday loan issue.

“I don’t really want to speak to any particular aspect of his program because I’ve not seen it,” she said.

She did, however, come out against the establishment of a new, federal consumer agency, one of the Dodd’s major objectives.

“My first reaction is, I don’t think we need to create any more government agencies,” McMahon said. ​“I think we have enough government agencies. They just need to do their job. If there’s reform, or we need to hold people more accountable, let’s do that.”