Legislative Activity Senate Agriculture Committee Votes to Reauthorize CFTC Following a Senate Appropriations hearing last week to review the FY17 Budget Requests for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), on Thursday, April 14, the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 11-9, to reauthorize the CFTC. Though the timing of Senate … 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 Financial Services Committee Sets Its Sights on the CFPB This week, on Wednesday, March 16, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray to provide his Semi-Annual Report to Congress. Among a myriad of topics likely to be raised during the hearing, much … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Still Divided on Labor’s Fiduciary Rule With the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Fiduciary Rule now with the Office of Management and Budget and being prepared for release in final form later this spring, last week Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) emphasized his opposition to the proposal, noting that he is … 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 Committees Mark-Up Fiduciary Rule Legislation as Senators Introduce Companion Bills With the Department of Labor (DOL) having recently submitted its Fiduciary Rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – officially beginning the countdown before DOL’s proposal is released in final form – last week, the House Ways and Means and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Turns Focus to Puerto Rico Debt Crisis This week, House lawmakers are set to hold a hearing on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, which is likely to kick off several weeks’ worth of debate on the matter. Importantly, in accordance with House leadership, lawmakers are expected to move legislation addressing the Commonwealth’s fiscal … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Consider “Audit the Fed” Legislation as House Takes Up Another Bill on Terrorism Financing This week, Congress is set to take up two financial services bills. First, on Tuesday, January 12, following continued concern regarding the need for improved congressional oversight of the Federal Reserve, the Senate will take up S. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Financial Services Lawmakers to Focus on FSOC, Hold Markup This week, the House Financial Services Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Notably, eight of the ten voting members will be present to testify. This hearing follows continued discussion about potential reforms to the agency, which many … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Lawmakers to Mark-Up FSOC-Related Bills On Tuesday, November 3, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a mark-up of various bills, including legislation targeting the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Specifically, lawmakers will consider legislation to: (1) bring the FSOC within the normal appropriations process; (2) make Council meetings more open and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Housing Policy in Spotlight as HUD Turns 50 This week the House Financial Services Committee will focus the majority of its attention on housing policy, as part of a look at the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) fifty-year anniversary. Financial services lawmakers will hold two hearings: one looking at the role … 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 Regulators to Testify on Capitol Hill This week, Janet Yellen, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, will appear before the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees to provide the Board’s semiannual monetary policy report to Congress. The House Financial Services Committee will also hold an additional hearing to … 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 Senate Banking Committee Likely to Let Export-Import Bank Lapse, Timing Unclear for Regulatory Relief Last week, Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) noted that he does not “see any crying-out need for a markup” of legislation to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, making clear that he has no plans to markup the legislation that … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Democrats Pushing Regulatory Relief Bill On Wednesday, June 3, Democrats on the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees filed a joint bill – the Community Lender Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act of 2015 (H.R. 2642/S. 1491) aimed at providing targeted regulatory relief to smaller banks and credit unions by, among other … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers to Focus on Export-Import Bank Reauthorization This week, the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees will hold hearings to discuss the Export-Import Bank – the agency that finances the export of American goods and services. The hearings will include several of the same witnesses, including the Honorable Fred P. Hochberg, President … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Banking Committee Set to Mark-Up Legislative Package of Financial Regulatory Reform As we highlighted last week, this Thursday, May 21, the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to hold a markup of Chairman Richard Shelby’s (R-AL) highly-anticipated legislative package of financial regulatory reform. Chairman Shelby last week released a draft of his legislation, which … 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 Schedules Markup on Regulatory Relief for Community and Regional Banks Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) has announced that the Committee will hold a markup on May 14 to consider proposals that would provide regulatory relief to community and regional banks. Despite earlier concerns to the contrary, it appears that Chairman Shelby … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers to Consider Oversight of Several Agencies This week, both the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are slated to hold several hearings focused on oversight efforts of several agencies. The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing to review accountability of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) as relates … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Financial Services Committee Continues to Focus on Housing As mentioned previously, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) plans to make reforming the housing finance market a “huge priority” this Congress. After having already held a hearing with Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt, this week the Committee will question … Continue Reading
