WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee on Thursday evening advanced 11 bills, which now go to the full House for consideration.
Of those bills, a slate proposed by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy, focused squarely on bank regulation issues, and offers one of the most robust windows into Republican thinking on bank policy legislation in Congress.
One package sponsored by Barr included measures
The package would also tailor some regulations for small and midsize banks.
"Creating a regulatory environment that promotes transparency, accountability and dynamism is necessary for enhancing financial stability and allowing safe and sound financial institutions to prosper," Barr said at the markup. "The [legislative package] requires federal banking regulators to foster this environment so our community, midsize and regional banks can comply with regulations in a meaningful way that allows them to be competitive and thrive."
The legislation, however, has little hope of picking up bipartisan support, which would be critical for the measure to get any traction in the Senate.
Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the leading Democrat on the panel, said that the bills show that Republicans "continue to prove that they've learned nothing from last year's bank failures."
"The bills before us would allow large banks like Wells Fargo or Silicon Valley Bank to appeal and delay addressing compliance shortcomings identified by their examiners," she said. "These issues must be addressed immediately otherwise millions of consumers will be harmed and there will be more turmoil when these banks suddenly fail."
One of the bills marked up Thursday had bipartisan buy-in. That legislation, a housing bill to help disabled veterans that was sponsored by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., would require the Department of Housing and Urban Development to exclude Veterans Affairs disability benefits from the income-eligibility formula to determine if a veteran qualifies for a homelessness rental-assistance program.
Also, the "Yes In My Backyard Act" from Reps. Mike Flood, R-Neb., and Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., which would require that some housing grant recipients report on the existing and future plans to allow multifamily and manufactured homes on the granted land, passed with bipartisan support.
"This bill is a welcome first step in the federal government's efforts to track local progress in reforming restrictive zoning policies to increase housing supply," Waters said. "I hope we can work together to further strengthen the YIMBY Act."
