Volcker Rule Regulatory Harmonization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4790, the Volcker Rule Regulatory Harmonization Act. I appreciate the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) for his leadership on this issue.

At over 930 pages, section 619 of Dodd-Frank, otherwise known as the Volcker rule, is as lengthy as it is complex and confusing. The Volcker rule is framed as a solution to a problem that never existed in the first place. Right now there are five different agencies responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Volcker rule. These five agencies all have different legal mandates and regulatory missions, which have led to duplicate and concurrent reviews into U.S. banks.

In the 25th District of Texas, community banks are struggling to get by and wonder why they have five different regulators knocking on their doors about the same issue. Only in Washington would that kind of backwards thinking be rewarded.

H.R. 4790 would streamline regulatory authority over the Volcker rule by giving the Federal Reserve exclusive rulemaking authority. In other words, banks won't have five different regulators coming to them about the same regulation. As a result, Main Street will be able to breathe again.

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is this: This is a commonsense way of governing that we should see more of in this Chamber. I am proud to support this piece of legislation that passed the committee with wide bipartisan support just last month, and I encourage the whole House to vote in favor of it today.

Now, we have had a lot of quotes. I have a quote. ``Business is good and business is getting better. H.R. 4790 moves our economy to new levels like we have never seen in years. Roger Williams, small business owner. Thank you very much.''

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