Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act--Motion
Floor Speech
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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I am going to be joined today by some of my colleagues from the Banking Committee who are also supporters of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. We rise today to speak about this bipartisan legislation, which advanced out of the committee last year by a vote of 16 to 7, a bipartisan vote. The primary purpose of this legislation is to make targeted changes to simplify and improve the regulatory regime for community banks, credit unions, midsized banks, and regional banks to promote economic growth.
Many of us represent rural States where community banks and credit unions are the primary providers of credit and financial services. These institutions hold a competitive advantage over their larger counterparts, operating with a relationship-based knowledge of their customers and an understanding of their unique needs. They are decidedly disadvantaged when it comes to keeping up with the ever- increasing compliance and examiner demands coming out of Washington.
Our bill offers much needed reforms that will reduce unnecessary burdens on smaller financial institutions so that they can use more of their capital serving customers rather than complying with Federal regulations that were never intended for them. It also adds protections against fraud and identity theft for consumers, veterans, senior citizens, and others, as well as for those falling on hard financial times.
This bill is the product of robust, bipartisan negotiation. It was years in the making. It is the outgrowth of feedback and input garnered from a process we initiated in the Banking Committee across all stakeholders in America, as well as from previous meetings, briefings, and many conversations and negotiations among the members.
I see Senator Heitkamp is here, and I am going to ask her to talk about this process, how we reached this point today, and what it means for North Dakotans.
Senator Heitkamp.
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Mr. CRAPO. Before the Senator yields to the Senator from Georgia, may I make one comment?
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Mr. CRAPO. I just want to express appreciation for the Senator's chart.
For those who cannot see the chart, this is a chart that the Senator from North Dakota has put up that shows the intersection of Main Street and relief for Main Street. The reason I mention this is that back when we were debating this regulatory system that was put into place that we are now trying to rightsize and correct, I had held a news conference on Main Street in Boise, ID. I had said: This legislation is being promoted as targeting Wall Street excesses, but the bulls-eye is on Main Street across this country, which is what we are trying to fix today.
So I just wanted to tell the Senator how much I love her chart.
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Mr. CRAPO. I will take the Senator up on that.
I yield to the Senator from Georgia.
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Mr. CRAPO. I thank very much the Senator from Georgia.
I next ask Senator Corker if he would like to weigh in and let us know his thoughts on this.
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Mr. CRAPO. I thank Senator Corker. I appreciate that.
Next, I would like to turn to my colleague from the other side of the aisle--another colleague from the other side of the aisle, just showing the bipartisanship we have here on this bill--Senator Tester from Montana.
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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Montana, Senator Tester. Earlier in my remarks, I said that this bill had been years in the making, and Senator Tester is one of those who have been involved the entire time, helping us to get here, as are Senator Donnelly from Indiana and Senator Warner, who is here--he had to step out for just a second--and Senator Heitkamp, who was here earlier.
I now want to turn to one of our colleagues on the Republican side, Senator Moran from Kansas, who also is one of those who have been with us for years, working to make sure we get this critically needed legislation to the floor.
Senator Moran.
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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Kansas, Mr. Moran, for his kind comments and especially for so clearly explaining the true beneficiaries of this legislation.
There is a lot of talk about financial institutions and even small banks and credit unions, but the real beneficiaries are the borrowers. They are the small businesses and the individuals who live in small and rural communities across this country and, frankly, even in some of our larger communities across this country. I thank you for explaining that so well.
The first words in the name of this bill are the ``Economic Growth,'' then ``Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Bill.''
I would like to turn to Senator Donnelly from Indiana--another one of the giants in terms of sticking to it and helping us get this important legislation drafted and moved to the floor.
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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I very much thank Senator Donnelly. I truly appreciate the Senator's solid, strong, and continued commitment to making this bill work, come to be a reality, and now helping to get it across the floor of the Senate. The Senator truly is appreciated.
Next, I turn to my good friend and another great colleague on the Democratic side of the aisle, Senator Warner from Virginia, another one of those who has consistently been there for years working to help us get to these solutions and to get them right.
Senator Warner.
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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I thank Senator Warner, my good friend and colleague from Virginia. I see that Senator Sanders from Vermont is here and the time has arrived for his time on the floor.
I will just conclude by saying that I agree with Senator Warner. We both support strong capital standards for our banks. I have a pretty solid, long speech on that that I was going to give if there was time. I will give it later.
I agree with Senator Warner that one thing we need to make clear is that the foreign banks with $250 billion in global consolidated assets will continue and still be subject to enhanced standards. Our bill does nothing to change that.
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Mr. CRAPO. I thank the Senator from Virginia.
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