Tester Defends Montanans’ Right to Hold Wall Street Accountable

Tester Slams Congress After Senate Votes to Strip Montanans’ Ability to Seek Justice from Equifax and Wells Fargo

(U.S. Senate) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester is defending Montanans’ right to hold Wall Street accountable by blasting Washington politicians for blocking justice for victims of Equifax and Wells Fargo.

Tester today slammed Congress after the Senate narrowly voted to strip Montanans’ ability to seek justice from financial firms for fraud. Tester underscored that Montanans have the right to hold corporations accountable, especially after Wells Fargo and Equifax recently put the personal finances of hundreds of thousands of Montanans at risk.

“Our right to hold corporations accountable is under attack by partisan politicians who are siding with Wall Street over hard working families,” Tester said. “Denying Montanans the right to defend themselves in court flies in the face of what America stands for, and it will make big corporations more powerful at the expense of the rest of us.”

The Senate voted 51-50 late Tuesday on legislation to eliminate a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that prevents major corporations from requiring customers to enter into forced arbitration agreements and waiving their right to sue the company. Vice President Mike Pence had to cast the tie-breaking vote.

Tester has battled Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan and Equifax former CEO Richard Smith in recent weeks after both companies attempted to use forced arbitration to deny customers the right to sue for fraudulent actions.

Wells Fargo is trying to force customers into arbitration after the bank opened more than two million accounts in customers’ names without their knowledge or consent. Equifax tried to force arbitration on customers attempting to see if they had been affected by the breach. After outrage from Tester, Equifax removed that arbitration language from their contract.