After wrangling over the details of a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) for months now, the House will finally take up legislation to create the consumer watchdog agency this week.  As this bill (H.R. 3126) made its way through committee during the fall, it engendered a good deal of  controversy. Right in the center of it all was Illinois' own Rep. Melissa Bean, who repeatedly attempted to weaken the proposed regulatory agency.  In October, the north suburban Democrat backed off a bit, agreeing to withdraw an amendment to strip the states' authority to enforce more stringent consumer protection laws.  But as expected, she quietly slipped the preemption amendment (PDF) back into the bill this week. The move comes as the American Bankers Association is stepping up its efforts to kill the entire CFPA proposal.

Encouragingly, consumer advocates continue to push back hard. Among them is Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who for months has been petitioning Congress and testifying on Capitol Hill in support of granting states the authority to crack down on predatory financial products.  Now she is engaged in a high-profile campaign to defeat Bean's amendment. "Over the past 10 years that we've seen a rise in preemption [by the federal government], we've seen a rise in predatory lending," Madigan said this morning on a conference call arranged by the consumer advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform. "We need to have checks and balances."

At the same time that she works to weaken the bill, Bean has been talking it up to the press. Last week, she called a news conference during which she noted that CFPA and the other financial reforms up for debate this week aren't about "more regulation" but "better regulation." Then, she addressed the CFPA on Fox Chicago Sunday this past weekend, telling co-host Jack Conaty, "I think it brings the oversight that's required to better protect investors and consumers and give families and businesses a little more stability and confidence to count on in our economy."

Meanwhile, CFPA advocates aren't mincing words over the apparent confluence of the banking industry's generosity and the New Democrats' efforts to kill consumer protection. "In this fight all the money is on one side and all the families are on the other," Congressional Oversight Panel chair Elizabeth Warren said this morning. "We'll see who is stronger."**  Bean, incidentally, has received $1.4 million from the financial services sector since 2007.

The Woodstock Institute is also doing its part to keep the pressure on. Just yesterday the organization issued an action alert urging the public to ring up Bean's office in opposition to the amendment. It is now up to the House Rules Committee to determine how far the measure gets. Today, members will decide which amendments will advance before the bill hits the floor. Stay tuned.

**Correction: We originally attributed this quote to Lisa Madigan, rather than Warren.  We apologize for the error.