Congress is facing renewed pressure to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in “stimulus” money to states, territories, counties and municipalities and to allow such entities the option of using the money to offset revenue lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives has begun floor consideration of a … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Financial Services Committee to Hold Markup of CHOICE Act on Tuesday After much anticipation, House Financial Services Committee Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) introduced the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017 (CHOICE Act) last week following a contentious hearing on the bill. Unsurprisingly, the hearing revealed partisan differences over the effectiveness of the Dodd-Frank Wall … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Financial Services Lawmakers Continue Work on Flood Insurance After Last Week’s Mark-Ups The House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees last week advanced various pieces of legislation, including bills that would extend to investment companies operating in Puerto Rico and all the U.S. territories the same rules as those that apply on the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Is Dodd-Frank on the Chopping Block Next Congress? With President-Elect Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of both the House and Senate, we believe there is a real possibility for a significant overhaul of financial services regulation in the 115th Congress – especially if future Chairman of the Senate … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Hensarling Chooses to Move Forward with CHOICE Act Last Friday, September 9, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) announced his intention to move forward with the Republican plan to replace the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) and formally introduced the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Banking Sets Its Sights Overseas In the coming weeks, the Senate Banking Committee will turn its focus to a number of international-related financial services issues. First, on Tuesday, May 10, the Committee will hold a hearing to evaluate the financial risks of China. Additionally, toward the end of the month, the Committee … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Lawmakers to Mark-Up, Vote Various Financial Services Bills This week, on Wednesday, April 13, the House Financial Services Committee is set to mark-up various bills that would significantly alter the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), including legislation that would repeal the government’s orderly liquidation authority, as well … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Financial Services Committee Sets Agenda for the Year Ahead As Senate Banking Committee Largely Silent Following the recent House Financial Services Committee retreat, we expect financial services lawmakers – at least in the House – to begin moving forward with their 2016 policy agenda. Among their priorities for this year (many of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Lawmakers Continue Oversight of DOL’s Fiduciary Rule On Wednesday, December 2, the House Education and the Workforce Committee will hold a hearing titled “Principles for Ensuring Retirement Advice Serves the Best Interests of Working Families and Retirees.” This hearing comes on the heels of House lawmakers having recently adopted a proposal by … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Banking Committee in Talks on Compromise Reform Package After months of disagreement between Republicans and Democrats the release of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) financial services reform legislation – S. 1484, the Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015 – there appears to be an effort by moderate Democrats on Committee … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Financial Services Lawmakers Focused on Iran Deal, Impact on Terrorism Financing Last week, the House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing held its fifth and final hearing to examine how to improve U.S. efforts to stop terrorism financing, as well as review the level of cooperation between various federal agencies … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Financial Services Lawmakers Hone in on Dodd-Frank Reform as Fifth-Year Anniversary Approaches Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed along party lines in a 16-14 vote a $20.6 billion financial services appropriations package into which Republican appropriators inserted Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby’s (R-AL) financial services regulatory reform bill. While the bill … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Financial Services Lawmakers Hone in on Dodd-Frank Reform as Fifth-Year Anniversary Approaches As the fifth anniversary marking the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) arrives this Tuesday, July 21, financial services lawmakers are continuing to focus on ways to reform the law. On the House side, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Consider Dept. of Labor Proposed Fiduciary Rule Last week, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held its first hearing on the Department of Labor’s recently released Fiduciary Rule, which seeks to establish a new legal standard for brokers and require them to offer investors retirement advice that is in the investors’ best … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Financial Services Committee to Consider Legislative Proposals as Banking Committee Prepares for Delayed Markup The Senate Banking Committee has rescheduled its markup of legislation to reform aspects of the financial services industry for May 21. While exactly what will be contained in the final legislation is unclear – and subject to change – … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Banking Committee Markup Not Yet Scheduled This week, the Senate Banking Committee was expected to hold a markup regarding proposals to provide regulatory relief to small banks. However, the markup has not yet been scheduled, as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) has not agreed to limit the upcoming markup to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers to Focus on Federal Reserve, Housing This week, Janet Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will testify before the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees on monetary policy and the state of the economy. Chair Yellen’s remarks come as lawmakers continue to call for reform … Continue Reading
Today, the House passed an 11-bill package with a 271-154 vote (H.R. 37, the Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act). The package, which amends various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), had failed last week to reach the two-thirds majority vote that was necessary to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House to Vote on Dodd-Frank Reforms As noted last Friday, the House failed to pass an 11-bill package (H.R. 37, the Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act) under suspension of the rules, which would amend various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). This … Continue Reading
House of Representatives Leadership Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was reelected as Speaker of the House. A small faction of the Republican Party – 25 Members – did not vote for him. As a result, two of those Members, Florida Congressmen Richard Nugent and Daniel Webster, lost their seats on the influential House Rules Committee. Scott … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Poised to Move Forward with TRIA Legislation, Dodd-Frank Also in Focus As previously discussed, the 113th Congress was unable to renew the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). Given the urgency to pass such legislation, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has indicated that “the House will act very quickly in the new Congress … Continue Reading
Before the 113th Congress adjourned on December 16, Congress adopted the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015, which ensures the federal government operates with budget certainty until September 2015. Among the provisions included in the last-minute budget agreement was an amendment to a provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) that will … Continue Reading
