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 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 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 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 House Likely to Take-Up Ex-Im Reauthorization, Legislation on DOL’s Fiduciary Rule After successfully getting enough signatures on his discharge petition to force a vote on reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, it is expected that this week – possibly as early as today – Representative Stephen Fincher (R-TN) will bring up his petition, where … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity DOL’s Fiduciary Rule in Focus as SEC Announces Delay With many lawmakers still opposed to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Fiduciary Rule, this week both the House Financial Services and Ways and Means Committee will tackle the issue. The House Financial Services Committee will hold a markup on Wednesday of legislation to require … 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 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 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 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 Senate Banking Committee to Review Regime for Regional Banks The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing to further examine the regulatory regime for regional banks this week. As mentioned in previous coverage, the path for regulatory relief for regional and community banks remains uncertain and the Committee already held two … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Federal Reserve Remains Under Scrutiny This week, Congress will continue its focus on examining potential reforms to the Federal Reserve. Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testified before Congress, which included discussion regarding recently introduced legislation to audit the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision-making. This week, the scrutiny will continue as the … 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
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
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
